As soon as Io quitted the prison cell of her husband, Oscar gave vent to the anguish which he had hardly been able to restrain in her presence. Leaving the loathed food untouched, the unhappy criminal paced up and down the narrow space in which he was confined, with hands tightly clasped and raised towards heaven with a gesture of something like despair. “The brand of Cain is upon me!” he groaned; “and like Cain, I am driven forth a vagabond on the earth. Like him, I cry, ‘My punishment is greater than I can bear!’ Is it sinful to pray that this misery may not be a prolonged one? Is it sinful to implore to be soon released from the worse than Egyptian bondage to which my mad wickedness has brought me, and to which I am dragging down with me my sweet, innocent wife?”
The unexpected sound of footsteps in the corridor, then that of the key grating in the lock of his cell, startled the prisoner, for no one usually came at that hour. The heavy, nail-studded door slowly unclosed, the jailer entered to introduce a visitor, and then himself retired.
“Lawrence!”—“My friend!” The brief greetings were exchanged, and the chaplain and the prisoner embraced, as brothers might embrace who were never again to meet in this world.
For some minutes no other word was spoken. Oscar was the first to break the silence.
“How came you to see me here—in my prison?” he asked.
“I could stay away no longer,” was the chaplain’s reply. “I felt that I must see my friend once more.”
“You call me friend,” said Oscar gloomily.
“Friend—yes, brother!” cried Lawrence.
“You forget why I am here,” said the criminal.
“No, I do not forget that you are here because you had the courage to confess your deed; because you preferred punishment and disgrace to honour and ease; because you dared to pluck out the right eye. Coldstream, do you repent having made a confession?”
“Never!” was the emphatic reply. “I would rather suffer any earthly misery than the terrible separation from God which I once had to endure.”
“Then indeed you are my brother in Christ,” said the chaplain. “Are we not both sinners redeemed by g............