The man was drunk ?' 'Yes, he was drunk.' 'Very drunk ?' 'Yes.' 'And the boy knew it ?' 'Yes, he knew it.' There was a long pause.

Then came this heavy verdict-- 'If the man was drunk, and the boy knew it, the boy murdered that man.
This is certain.' Faint, sickening sensations crept along all the fibers of my body, and I seemed to know how a person feels who hears his death sentence pronounced from the bench.

I waited to hear what my brother would say next.

I believed I knew what it would be, and I was right.

He said-- 'I know the boy.' I had nothing to say; so I said nothing.