not given any offence.

Paul, still clenching his fist, was about to answer in no pacific mood,
when a turnkey, who did not care in the least how many men he locked up
for an offence, but who did not at all like the trouble of looking after
any one of his flock to see that the offence was not committed, now
suddenly appeared among the set; and after scolding them for the
excessive plague they were to him, carried off two of the poorest of the
mob to solitary confinement. It happened, of course, that these two had
not taken the smallest share in the disturbance. This scene over, the
company returned to picking oakum; the tread-mill, that admirably just
invention by which a strong man suffers no fatigue and a weak one loses
his health for life, not having been then introduced into our excellent
establishments for correcting crime. Bitterly and with many dark and
wrathful feelings, in which the sense of injustice at punishment alone
bore him up against the humiliations to which he was subjected,--bitterly
and with a swelling heart, in which the thoughts that lead to crime were
already forcing their way through a soil suddenly warmed for their
growth, did Paul bend over his employment. He felt himself touched on
the arm; he turned, and saw that the gentleman who had so kindly
delivered him from his tormentors was now sitting next to him. Paul
gazed long and earnestly upon his neighbour, struggling with the thought
that he had beheld that sagacious countenance in happier times, although
now, alas! it was altered not only by time and vicissitudes but by that
air of gravity which the cares of manhood spread gradually over the face
of the most thoughtless,--until all doubt melted away, and he
exclaimed,--

"Is that you, Mr. Tomlinson? How glad I am to see you here!"