But her indignation was very brief. She was
carrying Honoria's flowers at the time, and as she put them on the
slab in Vivie's cell, she remarked that say what you liked, there
was nothing to come up to a mother, give her a mother rather than a
man any day.
On other occasions Bertie Adams came with Mrs. Warren; even
Professor Rossiter, who also went to see Vivie's mother at Praed's,
and conceived a whimsical liking for the unrepentant, outspoken old
lady.
Vivie's health gradually recovered from the effects of the forcible
feeding; the prison fare, supplemented by the weekly parcels, suited
her digestion; the peace of the prison life and the regular work at
interesting trades soothed her nerves. She enjoyed the respite from
the worries of her complicated toilettes, the perplexity of what to
wear and how to wear it; in short, she was finding a spell of prison
life quite bearable, except for the cold and the attentions of the
chaplain. She gathered from the fortnightly letter which her
industry and good conduct allowed her to receive, and to answer,
that unwearied efforts were being made by her friends outside to
shorten her sentence. Mrs. Warren through Bertie Adams had found out
the cases where jockeys and stable lads had lost their effects in
the fires or explosions which had followed Vivie's visits to their
employers' premises, and had made good their losses.
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