He turned away, and bit his lip hard to keep down his emotion.
The best quality he possessed was an entire and profound reverence for women.

Indignation even was almost quelled in the shock he received, when one of the students, for the pleasure of sneering at his discomposure, and making a boast of his own superiority to such weakness, uttered a brutal jest.

In vain the upturned face made its white appeal to the universe: a laugh billowed the silence about its head.
But no rudeness could hurt that motionless heart--no insult bring a blush on that pale face.

The closed eyes, the abandoned hands seemed only to pray: "Let me into the dark--out of the eyes of those men!" Alec gave one sob in the vain effort to master the conflicting emotions of indignation and pity.

It reverberated in the laugh which burst from the students of the healing art.