ALICE WALMSLEY LIFE

New Zealand Tablet, 23 July 1914, Page 7

ALICE WALMSLEY LIFE

Seeing him pause, and intently examine the card, the governor becKoned to the female warder, who was in the passage, to come and open the door. The woman approached, tho key in her hand, and stood aside until the gentlemen withdrew from the door. Will turned and read her intention, and with a shudder he put her back with his hand. ‘ No, no, not her,’ he said hurriedly; then recollecting himself: ‘No, no, the prisoners do not like to be stared at.’ Next moment, before he could think of the consequences, he turned again, and speaking rapidly, said ‘ 1 am wrong. 1 should like to see—i should like to see the interior of this cell.’ The lock clicked back, the heavy iron door swung open, and William Sheridan saw Alice Walmsley before him. , She had been sewing on something coarse and white, and a heap of the articles lay at her feet. As the door opened, she stood up from the low seat on which she had sat in the centre of the floored cell, and with her eyes on the ground, awaited the scrutiny of the visitors, according to prison discipline. Will Sheridan took in the whole cell at once, although his eyes only rested on her face. She never looked on him, but stood in perfect calmness, with her eyes cast down. She was greatly changed, but so differently changed to Will’s expectations, that he stood amazed, stunned. He had pictured her fragile, broken, spiritless, wretched. There she stood before him, grown stronger than when ho had known her, quiet as a statue, with a face not of happiness, but of intensified peace, and with all that was beautiful in her as a girl increased a thousand-fold, but subdued by suffering. Her rich brown hair had formerly been cut close, but now it had grown so long that it fell to her shoulders. Her face was colorless for, want of open air and sunshine. A casual observer would have said she was happy.

Something of her peace fell upon William Sheridan as ho looked upon her. Suddenly he was recalled Lo consciousness by a simple movement of hers as if averse to inspection. His heart quickened with fear and sorrow for his impulsive action in entering the cell, for now he would give all he possessed that she should not look upon his face. He turned from her quickly and walked out of the cell, and he did not look round until he heard the heavy door swing into its place. When ho had walked so far from the cell that she could not hear his voice, he asked the governor what work these privileged prisoners were engaged in, and was almost startled into an exclamation of astonishment when the governor answered; * They are just now engaged on a pleasant task for themselves. They are making their outfit for the Penal Colony.’ ‘ls she— is that prisoner going to the Penal Colony?’ asked Will Sheridan, scarcely able to control his emotion. ’Yes, sir; she and all those in this pentagon will sail for Western Australia in the next convict ship,' said the governor. *We shall send three hundred men and fifty women in this lot.' ‘When docs the ship sail?’ asked the visitor, still apparently examining the door-cards. ‘ On the 10th of April —just three months hence,’ answered the governor. With his eves fixed on a ponderous door, which he did not sec, Will Sheridan made a sudden and imperative resolution. ‘ I shall return to Australia on that convict ship,’ were the words that no one heard but his own soul. ‘ I thank you, sir, for your courtesy and attention,’ he said, next moment, to the governor ; ‘ and as I wish to examine more closely the working of your system, I shall probably trouble you again.’ ~ * The governor assured him that his visits to the prison would be at all times considered as complimentary; and Will Sheridan walked from Millbank with a firmer step and a more restful spirit than he had known for ten years. (To be continued.)