When I opened the door I saw before me the very man, my brother, that I thought to see in the condemned cell at Casterbridge.

He was in this chimney-corner; and jammed close to him, so that he could not have got out if he had tried, was the executioner who'd come to take his life, singing a song about it and not knowing that it was his victim who was close by, joining in to save appearances.

My brother looked a glance of agony at me, and I knew he meant, "Don't reveal what you see; my life depends on it." I was so terror-struck that I could hardly stand, and, not knowing what I did, I turned and hurried away.' The narrator's manner and tone had the stamp of truth, and his story made a great impression on all around.

'And do you know where your brother is at the present time ?' asked the magistrate.
'I do not.

I have never seen him since I closed this door.' 'I can testify to that, for we've been between ye ever since,' said the constable.
'Where does he think to fly to ?--what is his occupation ?' 'He's a watch-and-clock-maker, sir.' ''A said 'a was a wheelwright--a wicked rogue,' said the constable.
'The wheels of clocks and watches he meant, no doubt,' said Shepherd Fennel.