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A Prison Princess; A Romance of Millbank Penitentiary
A Prison Princess A Romance of Millbank Penitentiary Author:Arthur Griffiths General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1893 Original Publisher: Cassell Subjects: History / General Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Bo... more »oks.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: 20 CHAPTER III. HER STORY. To say that the General was taken aback at this new but unexpected turn would but imperfectly describe his pain and perplexity; he was in truth utterly at a loss, and feeling, as most men do, quite helpless when confronted with poignant feminine distress, he thought discretion the better part of valour, and quietly turned to make good his retreat from the cell; but before he had reached the iron gate she had again sprung to her feet, and, by a quick gesture, seized his hand to detain him. " No, no, you must not go like that; I beg, I implore you not to leave me yet. I know I have been foolish, only it was so terrible-to find that you, too, were against me." " I -- I -- took it for granted; I came to the natural conclusion, as I thought, finding you here, that -- that " stammered the General, anxious to make peace, yet unable to ignore the stubborn fact that this immaculate woman hadbeen fairly tried and duly sentenced according to the law. " Of course, of course; I can understand that. You feel that I would not be here if I had not done wrong. It looks like that, of course. But I swear to you that I am innocent. I have done no wrong. I am only the unhappy victim, the sad, suffering scapegoat for another's crimes." Seeing the General still hesitated, she took him by the hand and gently led him back to his seat. " Wait," she said, " only a few moments longer and I will tell you all. It is due to myself as well as to you. All, at least, that bears upon my present degraded position. Do not seek, I entreat you, to k...« less