Page:Milady at Arms (1937).pdf/102

 he called. When the soldier who had accompanied Sally hither reëntered the room to stand at ramrodlike attention, the marshal addressed him. "Remove this maid to the Long Room," he ordered, "and return here for further instructions."

Sally closed her eyes again, shuddering. She had heard of the Long Room, so called from its dimensions. It was an apartment set aside in one of the New York prisons—the Bridewell—for female culprits. The prison itself was a new one, built but a few years before, in 1775, because of overcrowded conditions in the New Gaol; and being unfurnished in many respects, especially as to windows through which the winter's cold could sweep, it had caused much suffering to those unfortunates who had been confined there. The Bridewell was a small stone structure; and like the New Gaol, it faced the Fields, that stretch of land noted before the war as a common outdoor gathering place for the citizens of New York. The Long Room was partitioned across its center, the rear half being reserved for Negro women and the front half for white; but except for the occasional patriot, like Sally, who was confined in it by underhanded means, the prisoners were of the lowest class, criminal rather than political, and woe to the person of refinement who was detained among them! No wonder poor Sally tried now to thrust away the repulsive pictures her active mind immediately conjured up before her!