I had to look at all that," he said without emphasis, turning upon me a sombrely watchful glance.

"Was ever there any one so shamefully tried ?" 'He took his head in his hands for a moment, like a man driven to distraction by some unspeakable outrage.

These were things he could not explain to the court--and not even to me; but I would have been little fitted for the reception of his confidences had I not been able at times to understand the pauses between the words.

In this assault upon his fortitude there was the jeering intention of a spiteful and vile vengeance; there was an element of burlesque in his ordeal--a degradation of funny grimaces in the approach of death or dishonour.
'He related facts which I have not forgotten, but at this distance of time I couldn't recall his very words: I only remember that he managed wonderfully to convey the brooding rancour of his mind into the bare recital of events.

Twice, he told me, he shut his eyes in the certitude that the end was upon him already, and twice he had to open them again.
Each time he noted the darkening of the great stillness.