“‘Never saw two peas more alike than you and Debar! No wonder the officer took you for Debar; I was ready to swear that you were the identical man. It’s lucky they found out the blunder, ain’t it? They might have hung you by mistake; that would have been rather awkward, wouldn’t it?’
“I made no answer to this strange inquiry, for I was thinking about other things.
“Harry returned soon, and informed me that he had been so fortunate as to secure two splendid young horses, whose owner had informed him that they could take us to the station in two hours and a half, without any danger of hurting them. My dungeon door was now thrown open, and all restraint on my movements withdrawn.
“‘I thought you were the same scamp who broke jail and left me with the bag to hold,’ said the jailer. ‘Everybody was down on me for letting Debar get away when I couldn’t help it—some rascal furnished him with tools, and I knew nothing about it until he was gone; therefore, when they brought you here I thought you were the same man, and I didn’t care to be kind to the man who had acted so badly as Debar. You are the very image of Debar, and then your name sounds so much like his. I can detect a slight difference in the color of your hair and that of Debar; then he had a small scar on his forehead, just above the left eye. It was very slight, and quite small, not over half an inch long. I have his photograph here, and if you will look close you can see the scar very plain.’
“I looked at the picture, and sure enough the scar could be plainly seen. This circumstance of itself would justify Judge Flaxback in ordering my release; in fact, the trial would be a mere form to be complied with, as everybody now admitted that a mistake had been committed. The villagers discussed it on the street corners, and laughed over it, cracking their jokes, little dreaming of the awful consequences that had resulted to me by the mistake. I dare say that a vastly different feeling would have permeated the breasts of those people if they could have witnessed the dying agonies of poor Lottie Wallingford. If they had known how my heart was broken by the sad mistake, they would not have been laughing and joking about the matter as if it were a very funny coincidence. I could not eat my breakfast—my appetite was gone, but I drank a cup of warm tea, which the jailer’s wife was kind enough to bring to me. She seemed to sympathize with me when she found out how deeply I had been wronged. I looked at my watch every five minutes; I was full of impatience. It seemed that nine o’clock would never come—but nevertheless it did come at last. The town clock began to strike, when the jailer said it was time to go.”
CHAPTER XXVI.
During the short recess the queen had agreed to allow, which was granted at the request of the Barbarian Chief, the excursionists assembled in various little groups on different parts of the boat, while most of them were discussing the merits of Ingomar’s story. George and the Duke of Wellington were seated apart from the other passengers, deeply interested in an animated discussion—the subject being the eccentric movements of the black domino and the unusual sadness of the queen.
“My lord,” observed the king, “did you notice that the queen fainted when those two men arrested Demar?”
“Of course I did! and that is not all—the lady in the black domino fainted, too, when the Barbarian Chief was arrested.”
“Now, I would like very much to know who this Barbarian Chief is, and why both of those women should manage to faint about him. I have never been so fortunate as to have as much as one woman care enough about me to faint for me.”