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apron, who, by the aid of a pair of horn spectacles, was reading from
the Bible aloud. It was the fortunate legatee.
The sick man laid his hand upon his attendant's arm, and motioned
him to stop. He closed the book, and laid it on the bed.
'Open the window,' said the sick man.
He did so. The noise of carriages and carts, the rattle of wheels, the
cries of men and boys, all the busy sounds of a mighty multitude
instinct with life and occupation, blended into one deep murmur,
floated into the room. Above the hoarse loud hum, arose, from time to
time, a boisterous laugh; or a scrap of some jingling song, shouted
forth, by one of the giddy crowd, would strike upon the ear, for an
instant, and then be lost amidst the roar of voices and the tramp of
footsteps; the breaking of the billows of the restless sea of life, that
rolled heavily on, without. These are melancholy sounds to a quiet
listener at any time; but how melancholy to the watcher by the bed of
death!
'
There is no air here,' said the man faintly. 'The place pollutes it. It
was fresh round about, when I walked there, years ago; but it grows
hot and heavy in passing these walls. I cannot breathe it.'
'
'
We have breathed it together, for a long time,' said the old man.
Come, come.'
There was a short silence, during which the two spectators
approached the bed. The sick man drew a hand of his old fellow-
prisoner towards him, and pressing it affectionately between both his
own, retained it in his grasp.
'I hope,' he gasped after a while, so faintly that they bent their ears
close over the bed to catch the half-formed sounds his pale lips gave
vent to - 'I hope my merciful Judge will bear in mind my heavy
punishment on earth. Twenty years, my friend, twenty years in this
hideous grave! My heart broke when my child died, and I could not
even kiss him in his little coffin. My loneliness since then, in all this
noise and riot, has been very dreadful. May God forgive me! He has
seen my solitary, lingering death.'
He folded his hands, and murmuring something more they could not
hear, fell into a sleep - only a sleep at first, for they saw him smile.
They whispered together for a little time, and the turnkey, stooping
over the pillow, drew hastily back. 'He has got his discharge, by G - !'
said the man.
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