"_The Prisoner, who was fashionably attired, and of genteel
appearance_;" _i.e._, An ill-got-up swell-mobsman.
"_A powerful-looking fellow_;" _i.e._, An awful ruffian.
"_A rumour has reached us_"--(in the well-nigh impenetrable recesses
wherein, as journalists, we habitually conceal ourselves).
"_Nothing fresh has transpired_;" _i.e._, The local Reporter's invention
is at last exhausted.
"_The Prisoner seemed fully alive to the very serious position in which
he was placed_;" _i.e._, He occasionally wiped his mouth on his
knuckles.
"_The proceedings were kept up until an advanced hour_;" _i.e._, The
Reporter left early.