--I did so.
"I suppose, sir," said he, with an air of suppressed triumph, "that you
have no idea that you are now sitting in a remarkable chair?"
I assured him I was totally unconscious of the fact.
"I can tell you, then," he replied, "that it was in that chair Fauntleroy,
the banker, who was hanged for forgery, was sitting when he was arrested."
"Indeed!"
"Fact, sir! I gave ten guineas for it. I thought also to have obtained the
night-cap in which he slept the night before his execution, but another
collector was beforehand with me, and bribed the turnkey to steal it for
him."
"I had no idea there could be any competition for such an article," I
observed.
"Ah! sir," said he, with a deep sigh, "you don't know the value of these
interesting relics. I have been for upwards of thirty years a collector of
them, and I have now as pretty a museum of Criminal Curiosities as you
could desire to see."
"It seems you have been indefatigable in your pursuit," said I.
"Yes," he replied, "when a man devotes himself to a great object, he must
go to it heart and soul. I have spared neither time nor money in _my_
pursuit; and since I became a collector, I have attended the execution of
every noted malefactor throughout the kingdom."
Perceiving that my attention was drawn to a common rope, which served as a
bell-pull, he said--
"I see you are remarking my bell-cord--that is the identical rope, sir,
which hanged Bellingham, who shot Mr.
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