Page:My Life in Two Hemispheres, volume 1.djvu/299

 CHAPTER VIII

MY IMPRISONMENT IN NEWGATE

the evening of Saturday, July 9, I was arrested. The business opened with an incident in which I was put to a ludicrous disadvantage, and it would be a shame to suppress it. I was returning on foot to Merton, my residence in the suburbs, when a cardriver, whose vehicle was drawn up close to the side-path, whispered to me with a pallid face, "Look at that fellow opposite, standing by the covered car; he is a detective from the Lower Castle Yard." "Well," I said, "suppose he be; what are you shivering about? I am not sure that I ever saw a detective before; I will cross the road and have a look at him." When I reached the far side the detective approached and inquired respectfully if I was Mr. Gavan Duffy. "Yes," I said, "I am; but how does that concern you?" "Why, sir, in that case I have a warrant for your arrest, and orders to convey you to Newgate." The officer, who was not at all disobliging, handed me into his vehicle, and at my request drove to my house, which was 281