They took the man away. They introduced him to the wheel. On the
treadmill he passed the remainder of the morning. At noon morning
tasks were over, and the prisoners were marched into their day-cells
to enjoy the meal which, in prison parlance, was called dinner. In
accordance with the ordinary routine, the chaplain made his appearance
in the round-house to interview those prisoners who had just come in,
and those whose sentences would be completed on the morrow. When
Mankell had been asked at the gate what his religion was, he had made
no answer; so the warder, quite used to ignorance on the part of new
arrivals as to all religions, had entered him as a member of the
Church of England. As a member of the Church of England he was taken
out to interview the chaplain.
The chaplain was a little fussy gentleman, considerably past middle
age. Long experience of prisons and prisoners had bred in him a
perhaps unconscious habit of regarding criminals as naughty
boys--urchins who required a judicious combination of cakes and
castigation.
"Well, my lad, I'm sorry to see a man of your appearance here." This
was a remark the chaplain made to a good many of his new friends. It
was intended to give them the impression that at least the chaplain
perceived that they were something out of the ordinary run. Then he
dropped his voice to a judicious whisper. "What's it for?"
"For telling the truth."
This reply seemed a little to surprise the chaplain. He settled his
spectacles upon his nose.
"For telling the truth!" An idea seemed all at once to strike the
chaplain. "Do you mean that you pleaded guilty?" The man was silent.
The chaplain referred to a paper he held in his hand. "Eh, I see that
here it is written 'false pretences.' Was it a stumer?"
We have seen it mentioned somewhere that "stumer" is slang for a
worthless cheque. It was a way with the chaplain to let his charges
see that he was at least acquainted with their phraseology. But on
this occasion there was no response. The officer in charge of Mankell,
who possibly wanted his dinner, put in his oar.
"Telling fortunes, sir."
"Telling fortunes! Oh! Dear me! How sad! You see what telling fortunes
brings you to? There will be no difficulty in telling your fortune if
you don't take care. I will see you to-morrow morning after chapel."
The chaplain turned away. But his prediction proved to be as false as
Mankell's were stated to have been. He did not see him the next
morning after chapel, and that for the sufficient reason that on the
following morning there was no chapel. And the reasons why there was
no chapel were very curious indeed--unprecedented, in fact.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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