I told him I was sure of it, sure, and begged him to believe, that if I
were able to do anything for him, at any time, I'd be glad, and gave him
my address. He was not even listening--an honest, good man, full of the
milk of human kindness. How kind deeds shine starlike in this prison of
a world. That warder and Sir Ruggles Brise each in his own place: such
men are the salt of the English world; better are not to be found on
earth.


FOOTNOTES:

[1] Some years ago _The Daily Chronicle_ proved that though the general
standard of living is lower in Germany and in France than in England;
yet the prison food in France and especially in Germany is far better
than in England and the treatment of the prisoners far more humane.

[2] He was referring, I suppose, to the solitary confinement in a dark
cell, which English ingenuity has invented and according to all accounts
is as terrible as any of the tortures of the past. For those tortures
were all physical, whereas the modern Englishman addresses himself to
the brain and nerves, and finds the fear of madness more terrifying than
the fear of pain. What a pity it is that Mr. Justice Wills did not know
twenty-four hours of it, just twenty-four hours to teach him what
"adequate punishment" for sensual self-indulgence means, and adequate
punishment, too, for inhuman cruelty.




CHAPTER XVIII