I
understood that there was no precedent for such a concession; the
general rule being that prisoners should only receive their friends in
the presence of an officer, who is bound to watch and listen jealously,
while no interview can be extended beyond fifteen minutes. Never,
surely, was a call better timed. I was at my very worst, just then;
besides a couple of potatoes and a crust of dry bread, no solid food had
passed my lips for seventy hours. Of my personal appearance, from my own
knowledge, I can say nothing, (for my mate and I had agreed in
considering mirrors superfluous luxuries); but, from the startling
effect produced upon my visitor, I fancy that the dreary week of weeks
had made wild work with the outward as well as inward man. I know that
the kind diplomatist was more than pained at finding himself unable to
give me any foothold of certain or substantial hope; it was impossible
to hazard a reliable guess as to the termination of my confinement.
Hitherto, the unceasing efforts of the Legation had spent themselves on
the passive obstinacy of the Federal Government like bullets on a cotton
bale; of a truth it was long before those unjust judges grew aweary.
Nevertheless, the mere sight and sound of a frank English face and voice
were more effectual restoratives than all the cunning tonics and
incentives with which the prison surgeon had been striving to quicken an
imperceptible pulse, and to revive a deceased appetite.
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