"Are you in earnest?" I asked. "Do you mean to say that you like to add
to the hard lot of those poor creatures by that dreadful punishment of
solitary?"
"Yes, I'm sure I do!"
And with a coarse laugh she turned away.
I hoped she could not mean it; but all of her actions, and all the
reports that I heard of her, tended to produce the conviction that she
had formed a just estimate of her own character; and, upon that, made a
correct representation of herself.
That remark of mine hit wide of the mark. Instead of touching her
compassion it roused the spirit of mischief.
She was on duty that night in prison, and, restless as the renowned
adventurer who went to and fro in the earth seeking whom he might
devour, she went on a search through the cells of the first division
where my kitchen women lodged.
The Deputy had ordered me to supply the women, on that division, with
all the blankets they wanted, because they worked in the kitchens where
it was hot and the air full of steam. And being the lowest tier of
cells, they were colder than the others.
I had done as he directed me, so that some of them had four or five.
Allen, my steam woman, an old woman of nearly sixty, had six.
Mrs. Hardhack stripped their beds, and counted their blankets. She took
off all but two, and locked them up in a black cell.
The sweep who sat 'tending the door saw the proceeding, and ran to tell
me what was going on.
"Mrs. Hardhack is stripping the blankets off the women's beds, and she
hasn't left poor old Allen but two little strips of rags."
I went to see what she was doing. No sooner did her eye light on me than
she commenced to show me how well educated she was in the use of the
dictionary.
"Here are your women with six blankets, and the rule is that they shall
have only two. A double one and a single one."
I was in no wise accountable to her, and did not think it necessary to
answer. I stood and looked at her. She went on,--
"You have no right to give your women more than the rest have. You have
no right to give out blankets in that way, and the Master will know it
directly. Here are your women with six blankets, and my shop women with
only two. It's a shame to treat your women so much better than you do
mine."
When she had exhausted herself, I said, quietly, but loud enough for
them all to hear,--
"Your shop women are just as well treated as my kitchen women. Some of
the old ones have five or six blankets--they all have as many as they
wish for. I have been to the doors, and asked every one of them if they
wished for more. And now if any woman wants another blanket, speak! and
she shall have it. You may be assured, every one of you, that you shall
have every comfort, from me, that I am allowed to give you."
No one spoke. That time Mrs. Hardhack failed to stir up jealousy on the
part of the shop women towards me; or create disturbance in the prison.
"I shall have it my own way about the blankets to-night," she said, and
locked them in a black cell.
I did not like to come in contact with her, so I went for the Deputy, to
settle the matter. He was out. I asked for the Master. I was told that I
could not see him. He was indisposed. I could not get access to him,
and my women slept without their blankets till nine o'clock, when Mrs.
Hardhack left the prison. After she was gone I returned them the
blankets she had taken away.
The next morning she came to me to know who unlocked the black cell
door.
"When you have authority to inquire into my actions, I will render an
account of them to you."
"You have no right to unlock a door after I lock it."
"You have no further care of the prison after you leave it at night, and
the last order given is the one to be obeyed. I had a plenty of blankets
up-stairs, in a chest, to supply the ones you took away, if I had chosen
to use them."
I went to the Deputy in the morning, and he forbade her interference in
such matters.
She indulged herself in one more exhibition of her sweet temper with
regard to the affair, and that was to tell me that she had secured my
women a few hours of cool repose.