_Lad_ (with a penitential wriggle). “Yes, sir; I wish as I couldn’t, sir.” _Governor_. “Ah! why so?” _Lad_ (with a doleful wag of his bullet-head). “Cos then I shouldn’t have read none of them highwaymen’s books, sir; it was them as was the beginning of it.” _Governor_. “Ah!” (a pause) “Have you a mother, my lad?” _Lad_. “Boo-oh!” _Governor_. “Answer me, my lad, have you a mother?” _Lad_ (convulsively clasping the corners of his collars, and hiding his eyes in them). “Ye-ye-ess, sir!” _Governor_. “Ah, I thought so! where does she live?” _Lad_. “Man-manchester, please, sir!” (a tremulous sniff, indicative of the impending explosion). _Governor_. “And what do you think would be her feelings could she see you as you now are?” _Lad_. “Boo-ooh” (here a writhe so agonized that a hand had to be spared from his eyes to save his trousers from slipping down). “Boo-ooh! I was just a thinkin’ on her when you opened the cell, sir! Boo-oo-ooh!” _Governor_. “You were thinking of your mother, eh? Well, well, I’m glad to hear that. If I let you go back to your own cell, will you promise never to swear again?” _Lad_. “Booh! yes, sir.” _Governor_. “You may go, then.” And with a countenance almost radiant with his unexpected stroke of good luck, the incorrigible young thief grasped his trouser legs, and scuttled up the long dim corridor till, except for his white tail, he was lost in the darkness. “They don’t like the dark cell,” remarked the humane governor, as he gazed after the retreating figure; “anything rather than that.” “The younger prisoners especially, I should say,” I returned. “Oh, I don’t know that,” said the governor, at the same time, however, shaking his head rather as a man who _did_ know, but did not care to say. CHAPTER XI. ADULT CRIMINALS AND THE NEW LAW FOR THEIR BETTER GOVERNMENT. _Recent Legislation_.—_Statistics_.—_Lord Kimberley’s_ “_Habitual Criminals_” _Bill_.—_The Present System of Licence-Holders_.—_Colonel Henderson’s Report_.—_Social Enemies of Suspected Men_.—_The Wrong-Headed Policeman and the Mischief he may Cause_.—_Looking Out for a Chance_.—_The Last Resource of Desperate Honesty_.—_A Brotherly Appeal_.—“_Ginger will Settle Her_.”—_Ruffians who should be Imprisoned for Life_. REGARDING the terms professional thief and habitual criminal as synonymous, now that we come to consider briefly what are at present the means adopted for the reformation of criminals and the suppression and punishment of crime, and what the most recent and plausible suggestions for amendment and improvement, we find the work already done to our hand, and naught remains but to cull from the shoals of evidence _pro_ and _con_ that have been lately set before the public.