What was back of it--judgment, criticism, disbelief--what?
Or was it the silence of emptiness?
Was Mahaffy dumb merely because he could think of nothing to say, or did his silence cloak his feelings-and what were his feelings?
Did his meditations outrun his habitually insulting speech as he bit his under lip and glared at him?
The judge always felt impelled to talk at such times, while Mahaffy, by that silence of his, seemed to weigh and condemn whatever he said.
The moon had slipped below the horizon.

Pleasantville had long since gone to bed; it was only the judge's window that gave its light to the blackness of the night.

There was a hoofbeat on the road.

It came nearer and nearer, and presently sounded just beyond the door.

Then it ceased, and a voice said: "Hullo, there!" The judge scrambled to his feet, and taking up the candle, stepped, or rather staggered, into the yard.