Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-11-10

marriage service. In a less emotional hour
she would have found something to criticlse
in its precepts, but she read the service
now with glow of fererish acquiescence
and approba ton.
Then, as she laid the prayer book down.
the thought DARED in upon her. He may
be gong out tomorrow-he may be gong
at the end of the week-he may have gone
already"
Love in stone cage is surely the direst
of the passions. Miss Pocket wanted to
fling open her door. spring out into the
sunny ar, give play TO her thoughts in that
free eXpanse, and then prick some sympa-
thetic human creature with questions. the
door fast locked from without, Miss
Pocket was companionless, and she could
not. except upon certainty of punishment
next day, summon human being to talk
with her.
Impulsive ladies in B wing, sick of oakum
picking. basket weaving, paper sorting, bag
making or spinninS-or victims of ennul.
pure and simple-smashed their cell furni-
ture, dru,nmed with the soles of their feet
against the door. howlei imprecations upon
the matron or governor, or beat a tattoo
with their pannlkins on the window bars.
merely to bring in the wardress and insure
the relaxation of scene" in the COVER
nors office at report hour on the following
morning. Miss Pocket herself. in fit of
piquc. and 10 make trouble for and with an
unpleasant wardress. had been discovered
Standing on her head in the middle Of her
cell. screaming at the top of her compass.
But these approved devices were not for
crisis such as hers. Miss Pocket no
longer wished to trouble the governor the
nIatron, or the wardresS. She was deSper-
ately concerned to appease everybody. IN
order that everybody might be on her side.
How she chafed and painted that after
noon within her three whitewashed walls
and the drab door which she could not
open: clipping her small feet together, and
her soft little palms that were not meant
for task work; wondering, with child s
curiosity in a thing she had never known
or felt before, how she should succeed in
converting everybody to her service where
nobody was in the least concerned to serve
her. except perhaps the two or three friends
who could only give help at their own
danger
Then the alarming query sounded in her
heart again: What if he Is going at once
or has already gomez
months in retirement. and had yet three
months to fulfill. She had seen him but
once and she might never see him aga n.
Altogether the romance was worthy OF
Its singular environment. 1t was not only
that Miss Pocket had glimpsed but once.
and for a moment. the captor of her heart:
she ignorant of his name station and
calling. She knew nothing but his present
estate, and she moderately certain
that he for his part, had never much
as beheld her. For all this Miss Pocket
did not care. if only she could be that
he were still not far away.
Who this gallant. was a question
which greatly exercised the curiosity OF
Miss Rodwell and Mrs. Prngle, the only
persons at present sharing a meager half
of Mss Pockets seductive secret. The gov
ernor was out of the reckoning-a little,
lean, elderly prim creature, the very tn
carnation of penal discipline, and not to be
thought upon with any tenderness The
chaplain? No. There was a touch of GAL
lantry in the chaplain, but he was too I'M
kempt. The doctor was agreeable when his
fancy was moved, but too argumentative.
NJ So Rodwel thought. to inspire love. The
deputy governor-but all the ladies' were in
love with him. and Miss Pocket had said
in the sewing room once that though he
was the kind of man you might go up the
river with a quiet evening, she should
never think of him in serious matrimo-
NAL way. The chief warder was noble
looking old man, with snowy beard but
he had six children, and it was well known
that his wife laughed al him. Neither Miss
Rodwen nor Mrs. Pringe could think that
M IS Pocket. with her upbringing and So
cial aspirations, would cast glance be-
meath the rank of chief warder.
But there was male as well as a female
side to this prison. On the male side were
congregated some 900 or 1000 peccant in
dividuals. whose exploits little and great
had exhausted the resources of crim!nology.
From the grave old plodders' to the gay
young frskers" in the devious ways tina,
led to the seats of pennance there were
many talented persons and persons OF
genius. very quiet and agreeable, at pres
ent engaged in variety Of Industrial pur-
suits. for which they were rewarded with
a maximum of marks per diem.
But the rules of the establishment for
babe all intercourse and communication be-
tween the boarders of opposite sex The
wicket Of passage from the one side to the
| other was perpetually barred; in chapel
| the. ladies were divided from the men by a
| heavy curtain of red baize; and not even on
saints days and holidays (of which. indeed
the prison calendar took no account We're
| they allowed to mingle in friendly converse.
| The mildest forms of Irritation We're not
| alone discouraged, they were rendered alb
| solutely impossible. and the governor and
| the matron were. regarded their respec-
| tive charges, implacable misogynists. But
there are always eventualites and the I'M
foreseen.
1t was at the exercise hour on the fol-
lowing morning that Miss Pocket was re-
lieNed of her most immediate anxiety. Thus
and thus did fortune further her. In the