Mr. Lacy colored a little, but he took a pinch of snuff, and then coolly drew out of his pocket a long paper sealed.

“Have you any idea what this is?”

Mr. Eden caught sight of the direction; it was to himself.

“Probably my dismissal from my post?”

“It is.”

Hawes quivered with exultation.

“And I have authority to present you with it if you do not justify the charges you have made against a brother officer.”

“Good!” said Mr. Eden.  “This is intelligent and it is just.  The first gleam of either that has come into this dark hole since I have known it.  I augur well from this.”

“This is a character, gentlemen.”

“To business, sir?” inquired Mr. Eden, undoing his portfolio.

“Sir,” put in Mr. Hawes, “I object to an ex-parte statement from a personal enemy.  You are here to conduct a candid inquiry, not to see the chaplain conduct a hostile one.  I feel that justice is safe in your hands but not in his.”

“Stop a bit,” said Mr. Eden; “I am to be dismissed unless I prove certain facts.  See! the Secretary of State has put me on my defense.  I will intrust that defense to no man but myself.”

“You are keen, sir, but—­you are in the right; and you, Mr. Hawes, will be here to correct his errors and to make your own statement after he has done in half an hour.”

“Ah! well,” thought Hawes, “he can’t do me much harm in half an hour.”

“Begin, sir!” and he looked at his watch.

“Mr. Hawes, I want your book; the log-book of the prison.”

“Get it, Mr. Hawes, if you please.”

Mr. Hawes went out.

“Mr. Williams, are these the Prison Rules by Act of Parliament?” and he showed him the paper.

“They are, sir.”

“Examine them closely, Mr. Lacy; they contain the whole discipline of this prison as by law established.  Keep them before you.  It is with these you will have to compare the jailer’s acts.  And now, how many times is the jailer empowered to punish any given prisoner?”

“Once —­on a second offense the prisoner, I see, is referred for punishment to the visiting justices.”

“If, therefore, this jailer has taken upon himself to punish the same prisoner twice he has broken the law.”

“At all events he has gone beyond the letter of this particular set of rules.”

“But these rules were drawn up by lawyers, and are based on the law of the land.  A jailer, in the eye of the law, is merely a head turnkey set to guard the prisoners.  For hundreds of years he had no lawful right to punish a prisoner at all; that right was first bestowed on him with clear limitations by an act passed in George the Fourth’s reign, which I must show you, because that act is a jailer’s sole authority for punishing a prisoner at all.  Here is the passage, sir; will you be kind enough to read it out?”