'You're nervous.' 'Nervous!' whispered Dennis in great alarm.

'Well I may be.

Shut the door.' 'I will, when you're in,' returned the man.
'But I can't go in there,' whispered Dennis.

'I can't be shut up with that man.

Do you want me to be throttled, brother ?' The officer seemed to entertain no particular desire on the subject one way or other, but briefly remarking that he had his orders, and intended to obey them, pushed him in, turned the key, and retired.
Dennis stood trembling with his back against the door, and involuntarily raising his arm to defend himself, stared at a man, the only other tenant of the cell, who lay, stretched at his fall length, upon a stone bench, and who paused in his deep breathing as if he were about to wake.
But he rolled over on one side, let his arm fall negligently down, drew a long sigh, and murmuring indistinctly, fell fast asleep again.
Relieved in some degree by this, the hangman took his eyes for an instant from the slumbering figure, and glanced round the cell in search of some 'vantage-ground or weapon of defence.