His hand trembled.

What could he do to calm himself?
He rose and walked to his mirror, and found that he was pale.

"Are you afraid ?" he said to himself.

"Are you a coward?
Ha! ha! ha! ha! Did I laugh?
My God! how it sounded! Aren't you a pretty King of Wall Street! Aren't you a lovely President of the Crooked Valley Railroad! Aren't you a sweet sort of a nabob! You _must_ do it! Do you hear?
You _must_ do it! Eh?
do you hear?
Sit down, sir! Down with you, sir! and don't you rise again until the thing is done." The heart-thumping passed away.

The reaction, under the strong spur and steady push of will, brought his nerves up to steadiness, and he sat down, took his pencils and pens that had been selected for the service, and wrote first the name of Paul Benedict, and then, as witnesses, the names of Nicholas Johnson and James Ramsey.
So the document was signed, and witnessed by men whom he believed to be dead.