He writes in _De Profundis_ that for the first part of his sentence he could only wring his hands in impotent despair and cry, "What an ending, what an appalling ending!" But when the new spirit of kindness came to him, he could say with sincerity: "What a beginning, what a wonderful beginning!" He sums it all up in these words: "Had I been released after eighteen months, as I hoped to be, I would have left my prison loathing it and every official in it with a bitterness of hatred that would have poisoned my life.

I have had six months more of imprisonment, but humanity has been in the prison with us all the time, and now when I go out I shall always remember great kindnesses that I have received here from almost everybody, and on the day of my release I shall give many thanks to many people, and ask to be remembered by them in turn." This is the man whom Mr.Justice Wills addressed as insensible to any high appeal.
Some time passed before I visited Oscar again.

The change in him was extraordinary.

He was light-hearted, gay, and looked better than I had ever seen him: clearly the austerity of prison life suited him.

He met me with a jest: "It is you, Frank!" he cried as if astonished, "always original! You come back to prison of your own free-will!" He declared that the new governor--Major Nelson[3] was his name--had been as kind as possible to him.