They found Laura in a cell in the upper tier of the women’s department.  The cell was somewhat larger than those in the men’s department, and might be eight feet by ten square, perhaps a little longer.  It was of stone, floor and all, and tile roof was oven shaped.  A narrow slit in the roof admitted sufficient light, and was the only means of ventilation; when the window was opened there was nothing to prevent the rain coming in.  The only means of heating being from the corridor, when the door was ajar, the cell was chilly and at this time damp.  It was whitewashed and clean, but it had a slight jail odor; its only furniture was a narrow iron bedstead, with a tick of straw and some blankets, not too clean.

When Col.  Sellers was conducted to this cell by the matron and looked in, his emotions quite overcame him, the tears rolled down his cheeks and his voice trembled so that he could hardly speak.  Washington was unable to say anything; he looked from Laura to the miserable creatures who were walking in the corridor with unutterable disgust.  Laura was alone calm and self-contained, though she was not unmoved by the sight of the grief of her friends.

“Are you comfortable, Laura?” was the first word the Colonel could get out.

“You see,” she replied.  “I can’t say it’s exactly comfortable.”

“Are you cold?”

“It is pretty chilly.  The stone floor is like ice.  It chills me through to step on it.  I have to sit on the bed.”

“Poor thing, poor thing.  And can you eat any thing?”

“No, I am not hungry.  I don’t know that I could eat any thing, I can’t eat that.”

“Oh dear,” continued the Colonel, “it’s dreadful.  But cheer up, dear, cheer up;” and the Colonel broke down entirely.

“But,” he went on, “we’ll stand by you.  We’ll do everything for you.  I know you couldn’t have meant to do it, it must have been insanity, you know, or something of that sort.  You never did anything of the sort before.”

Laura smiled very faintly and said,

“Yes, it was something of that sort.  It’s all a whirl.  He was a villain; you don’t know.”

“I’d rather have killed him myself, in a duel you know, all fair.  I wish I had.  But don’t you be down.  We’ll get you the best counsel, the lawyers in New York can do anything; I’ve read of cases.  But you must be comfortable now.  We’ve brought some of your clothes, at the hotel.  What else, can we get for you?”

Laura suggested that she would like some sheets for her bed, a piece of carpet to step on, and her meals sent in; and some books and writing materials if it was allowed.  The Colonel and Washington promised to procure all these things, and then took their sorrowful leave, a great deal more affected than the criminal was, apparently, by her situation.

The colonel told the matron as he went away that if she would look to Laura’s comfort a little it shouldn’t be the worse for her; and to the turnkey who let them out he patronizingly said,