Of course I could not allow such talk as that, and I told her to stop.
"I have done the best for you that I could. You had the same chance to eat that the rest had, and the same breakfast and dinner provided for you. I am not allowed to provide anything else. If you haven't eaten, it is your own fault."
"I can't eat brown bread, and I can't eat soup, nor I can't drink cold coffee. The Master will be awful mad, and make an awful fuss, for me to have cold coffee."
"Not another word, Haggerton! If you don't like the fare, you ought not to take board here," I said. I thought, if the Master would feel so bad that your coffee is cold, why don't his compassion lead him to provide something that you can eat.
Upon that she went on to cry and sob, and make a great disturbance in the prison.
I told her she must stop; but she kept on. I had not the heart to scold and threaten the girl. I had no doubt that she was tired and hungry, and I pitied her. I went for the Deputy, to see what I should do. He was out. I stepped into the officers' dining-room to find some one to direct me.
Mrs. Hardhack, the Shop Matron, was eating her supper. The Supervisor sat there, talking with her. I stated the case to her. Before I had got half through with it, she motioned me away, and exclaimed, in great agitation,--
"You mustn't leave the prison alone a moment! You mustn't leave the prison alone a moment!"
Mrs. Hardhack rushed past me as though every prisoner had got loose, and was running away.
I thought they would probably be safe if she arrived without accident, and followed at my usual gait.
When I entered the prison she was leaving Haggerton's cell door, and from the second division saluted me with,--
"It's no wonder the girl cries! her coffee is cold! I went to the kettle and tasted it myself! She hasn't eaten a mouthful to-day; and now, to have cold coffee given her for her supper, it's too bad! The Master shall know it, and he'll make an awful fuss."
I made no reply to her; but the next morning, I had several questions to ask the Deputy.
"It is a rule, is it, that the prisoners are not to be left alone a moment at night, after they are locked in?"
"Then how am I to leave the prison, go across the kitchen, and pass out my keys? Sometimes it will be ten or fifteen minutes before I can make the prison officer hear my rap."