Harry, after a short conversation on the matter, willingly agreed to go along with his old friend, being careful, however, to deliver the letter with which he had been sent by his employer before going to Wilberforce's. Arrived there, he wrote out a short note to Mr. Fillemup, telling him he would not hold his situation any longer, as he had found one more suitable, and he would forfeit the week's wages due to him.
Wilberforce's place was a really comfortable one for Harry to be in. It was a nice roomy house, with plenty of accommodation for a few visitors, and adjoining it was a large hay and corn store, of which Fred was the sole proprietor, and which was doing a very large business indeed.
“And now, Harry, tell me a little of how you have been getting on all these years. I have often thought of you, and wondered whether I would ever see you again; and now that you are here, I long to know all about you.”
“All I can tell you is very little, Fred. A prisoner's life is very much like that of any other prisoner, and the fact of his being a political offender falsely charged with crime does not cause him to he treated otherwise than as an actual criminal. One thing, however, was in my favor, and of course distinguished me from the exact treatment of a criminal: I commanded the respect of the individuals in immediate authority over me, and was as kindly treated by them as they dared let me be. I took every opportunity to explain to them my true position, and I know they were really sorry for me. One of them told me he often felt the falsity of his own position, and realized that while he was there to assist in keeping the criminal elements of society under subjection that he knew many who were detained there were not really as bad as the majority who still enjoyed their freedom, while the greatest villains of all enjoyed their freedom. He could not see how we could do without jails, but he thought we might almost be as well without them when scores of legislators and plutocrats were allowed to rob the struggling masses by fraudulently conducting bogus building societies, banks, and other financing institutions with impunity, and rarely paid the penalty of their roguery, because they had a mutual understanding to protect each other against legal prosecution when any of them were detected by the public. But, Fred, I can tell you about all this sort of thing any other time. I am longing to know how all my old friends are getting on. Can you tell me anything about them?”
“Well, of course you know about your widowed mother?”
“Yes, I learned that she died of a broken heart shortly after my sentence, and just before my final imprisonment. What became of my brother John?”
“I believe he went to America about twelve years ago. He couldn't make much of a living here, and he gave the place up in disgust, and has settled I believe in San Francisco. He told me just before his departure that he did not think the Melbourne people deserved to have a decent person stopping in their midst: they appeared to like being plundered, and therefore should have what they liked. He wasn't going to waste his life for them as his foolish brother had done.”
