Supernumerary was in the habit of sending to me for my No. 5 key
occasionally. She said it let her through from the house into the attic
of the prison.
I could not imagine what she wished to go through there for. I finally
settled down upon the supposition that she wished to supervise the
prisoners' rooms at her convenience, and see if I kept them in order,
and made the poor things as comfortable as possible.
The mystery was unraveled when she took me up to show me the room of the
Receiving Officer which she wished to have cleaned. She pointed to a
large closet on the same flat, where she packed away summer articles of
use in the fall, and winter ones in the spring, which she said my 5 key
locked.
I had given her the credit of one generous deed too many. Still,
although she went through on her own business she did have an eye to
cast about upon the affairs of the prison.
One night, about eight o'clock, after she had been using this key in the
afternoon, I was on the third flight of stairs. The Deputy went rushing
past me, in great perturbation, looking deathly pale.
"What is the matter, sir? pray what is the matter?" I asked, as I turned
back to follow him.
"Mrs. Martin says she heard some one in solitary, this afternoon, in one
of the upper cells; and there has been no one put in for three days."
"And I have fed no one up there for three days!" I exclaimed in an agony
of apprehension. The second thought followed fast upon the first. "It
cannot be, Mr. Deputy! I have passed those doors several times a day,
and the sweeps sleep next to the black cells. No woman would stay there
three days and nights without letting it be known. If there had been any
one there I should not have forgotten her, and I don't think you would."
"Mrs. Martin says she heard her talk and sing this afternoon."
"It cannot be! She has been very cool to make no mention of it till
now."
But the thought of my having left any one so long in solitary, without
food, took my strength from me. My limbs trembled; I sunk upon the
steps.
"It cannot be, Mr. Deputy, that we have been so careless! Mrs. Martin
has been very cool about it. She had my key about three; it is now after
eight. No woman who had been in solitary three days without food would
be merry enough to sing."