passenger in handcuffs
going to prison for ten years. To the passenger in handcuffs, whose good
name has been destroyed, whose liberty is gone, whose future is to be
made of weary days of monotonous drudgery and dreary nights in a damp
cell, whose friends have deserted him, who is an outlaw to society--to
the passenger in handcuffs this dashing and whirling toward a living
entombment has no exhilaration. Charlton was glad of the darkness, but
dreaded the dawn when there must come a recognition. In a whisper he
begged the deputy marshal to pull his cap down over his eyes and to
adjust his woolen comforter over his nose, not so much to avoid the cold
wind as to escape the cold eyes of Helen Minorkey. Then he hid his
handcuffs under the buffalo robes so that, if possible, he might escape
recognition.

The gentleman alongside Miss Minorkey asked if she had read the account
of the trial of young Charlton, the post-office robber.

"Part of it," said Miss Minorkey. "I don't read trials much."

"For my part," said the gentleman, "I think the court was very merciful.
I should have given him the longest term known to the law. He ought to go
for twenty-one years. We all of us have to risk money in the mails, and
if thieves in the post-office are not punished severely, there is no
security."

There spoke Commerce! Money is worth so much more than humanity, you
know!

Miss Minorkey said that she knew something of the case. It was very
curious, indeed. Young Charlton was disposed to be honest, but he was
high-tempered. The taking of the warrant was an act of resentment, she
thought. He had had two or three quarrels or fights, she believed, with
the man from whom he took the warrant. He was a very talented young man,
but very ungovernable in his feelings.

The gentleman said that that was the very reason why he should have gone
for a longer time. A talented and self-conceited man of that sort was
dangerous out of prison. As it was, he would learn all the roguery of the
penitentiary, you know, and then we should none of us be safe from him.

There spoke the Spirit of the Law! Keep us safe, O Lord! whoever may go
to the devil!

In reply to questions from her companion, Miss Minorkey told the story of
Albert's conflict with Westcott--she stated the case with all the
coolness of a dispassionate observer.

There was no sign--Albert listened for it--of the slightest sympathy for
or against him in the matter. Then the story of lit