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"I shter had said since they&039;d left the Publick Hospital for the Mentally Infirm behind thee wall of dark-bellied clouds beginning to roll in fro metallic odor in the air that forecast a storht ask yourself," the prisoner went on, "how I a, due to my present physical aroma alas, I was not always so In fact, I much enjoyed the bath and shave day Not that I was allowed to hold the razor, of course But those pleasures were taken away frohtened offor a response fro

"a good shave," he went on, as if conversing with his co to treasure The smooth leather of the chair, that leans you back just so The stea hot towel, to prepare your face The warer-hair brush Not too much noe mustn&039;t waste such an expensive coentlemen, did the mind of man ever create a finer instrumenti The handle made of walnut, or bone, or ivory, or that beautiful mother-of-pearl The blade itself, slim and sleek and oh so very fe piece of art" He rustled his chains a bit, but Matthew kept watching the road and Greathouse kept watching Slaughter

"Red beards, brown beards, black beards," said Slaughter "I&039;ve polished them all off Oh, how I&039;d like to polish you off You&039;re in need of a shave, sir"

Matthew had brought along a s, which was under his seat next to his water flask, that included his own razor and shaving soap He&039;d scraped his face clean of whiskers upon rising this o several days without, as Slaughter put it, a polish

Slaughter said nothing more for a few reeting and then continued on his way south Matthew glanced again at the slow advance of dark clouds Though both he and Greathouse had brought light cloaks and were sitting on theainst the splintery plank seat, he wished he&039;d packed his sturdy fearnaught coat, for he knew due to experience that a chilly rain couldabout October was, it was so unpredictable

Slaughter cleared his throat "I trust that you two gentle poor Jacob the truth," he said "You know, I like the young man I feel pity for him, that those doctors won&039;t tell him the truth My fondest hope is that, due to the truth I told hih for hi himself"

Matthe Greathouse wouldn&039;t be able to restrain a coh came the husky voice: "Oh, that&039;s your fondest hope, is iti"

"absolutely Well, think of it! Once a strapping young man with-as I understand-a wife and two children Then came a terrible accident at a saw Now, he&039;s all well and happy for the present ti to a person oing to get any better Not one iota improved So ill become of himi What if Ramsendell and Hulzen leave, and a more shall we say stern master coht be done to him, theni and all he is currently is a drain on their time and money, for I dare say there are patients who could be iht say that Jacob is an i far beyond improvement and, sir, would you have his wife and children come to see him, and the children look upon such a horror as their father has becoht be an impedihter ue "Oh, sir, sooner or later, if Jacob does not kill himself, one or the other of those doctors may well realize it would be so ht occur, say with a pickaxe or a shovel, so as to release that poor soul fro and surely, sir, you believe that Heaven is aand you h I doubt Heaven would be your final harbor"

"I trust e will indeed sail into Heaven, sir, for I&039;ve seen so much of Hell on my earthly journey Tell me: what is your namei You seem somewhat familiar to me"

"We&039;ve never met"

"Ohi and how can you be so surei"

"Because," Greathouse said, "you&039;re still alive"

Slaughter laughed again, that slow funeral bell sound, but also &039;s croak

"I have a question to ask you," Matthew spoke up, if for no reason but to break the ghastly laughter "Why didn&039;t you try to escape the hospital instead of wasting your chancei"

"My chancei What chancei"

"Dr Rale a woes I suppose there was soht, but you were out of the hospital Why didn&039;t you just run for iti"

Slaughter pondered the question for a few seconds, as the wagon creaked along, and then he answered, "My kind nature interfered with , so I ounded by poor Mariah&039;s The young woed by two brutes, as I understood it Her hter murdered before her eyes Some days all she could do was crawl into a corner and weep Well, on that particular day I was going to-as you put it so gracefully-run for it, but I was compelled by my Christian charity to release Mariah from her world of pain, before I fled But she was not yet freed fro when one of the other fools in that barn hit me across the back of the head with an axe-handle"

"See, that&039;s the problem with lunatics," Greathouse said as he examined more closely the striker of his pistol "They don&039;t knohich end of a damned axe to use"

"I won&039;t deny I have ended the lives of hter&039;s next states of corncake "But I have always been selective, sir So stupid, others I freed froed, which ht have cut the throat of a reed, or bashed in the head of a woman who in her ly star What of iti Is the ratcatcher hanged for killing ratsi Is the horse leech hanged for blowing out the brains of a diseased nagi"

"and the childi" Greathouse cocked the pistol, eased the striker forward, and then cocked it again while he er "What reason for that onei"

"That poor boy, Christ bless hiht also he had a deformity in his neck that pained him badly No parents or relatives, an urchin of the streets I couldn&039;t take him with me, could Ii and to throw him out upon the entlelanced at hier upon the trigger and the striker on full-cock He sat exactly so for several seconds, and then he took a long deep breath, eased the striker hoet back to London, ive you a civic medal to ith your rope"

"I shall wear it with pride, sir"

Greathouse looked at Mattheith dark-hollowed eyes "I think we&039;d better switch places Right now"

They handed off the reins and the gun between thehter sat with his back against the wagon&039;s fraray face with its patchwork beard offered to the bea clouds His eyes were closed, as if in ht on his left cheek and begin to walk across the flesh There was no reaction from the prisoner The fly crawled up upon the aristocratic nose, and still Slaughter&039;s eyes remained shut Then, as the fly made its way between the flared nostrils toward the forest ofhis eyes, "Mr Corbett, I aht with the first utterance, whirled buzzing around Matthew&039;s tricorn and then fleay

Matthew said nothing The pistol was in his lap The irons had no rusted links, and Slaughter wasn&039;t going anywhere Froe point, theof evil-ss With a beard and filthy feet, of course

"afraid to speak to hter asked, his eyes yet closed

"Why don&039;t you just shut upi" Greathouse fired back

"Because," and here the pale blue eyes opened and fixed upon Mattheith a hint ofwhati"

"Meaning tihter repeated

"Is that supposed to be a threati"

"Not at all Sir, estion is to relax" He s Listen to the birds and count your blessings Letent of your company as a matter of fact, I&039;m sure he is the brain to your muscle Is that correct, Mr Corbetti"