ew all the time?"

"There's no knowing; he's such a secretive fellow. Did you notice the
expression on his face all day yesterday when he looked at the judge?
And this morning I couldn't help noticing it. I tell you, Stepaside
knew a great deal more than we imagined, and he's had something up his
sleeve the whole time. There'll be an interesting _denouement_ to all
this."

"Will he be hanged, think you?"

"Ask me another! As far as circumstantial evidence goes, the man's
dead already, unless he has something to fire forth at the last."

"I see now," said another. "That was the reason Bolitho was so excited
last night. Don't you remember how he trembled when that note was
brought to him, and how he left the room like a man in a dream? That's
it. There was some hint of this in the letter he received. Then he
went out and made certain."

"But how could he do that?"

"Who knows? The fact remains that he didn't know till last night. He
said as much just now. Anyone can see he didn't have a wink of sleep
last night."

"Yes, that was plain enough. He must have suffered the torments of the
damned!"

"All the same, it was a plucky thing to do! Would you have done it if
you had been in his place?"

"A man doesn't know what he would do under such circumstances. All the
same, we can't help admiring him. You see, Bolitho always had a strain
of religion in him, and although he was as hard as nails in many
respects, he possessed the remains of an old conscience."

Slowly the court emptied itself, and the people found their way into
the street, still eagerly discussing every phase of the question, still
asking and answering questions.

"I tell thee what," a rough collier was heard to say. "God Almighty's
been to work, and when God Almighty gets to work wonderful things
happen! When I get back to Brunford I'm going to our minister straight
away and ask him to call a meeting for prayer. We mun pray, I tell
you. We mun!"

During this time Paul was led back to his cell. The warders would far
rather have remained in the court and talked the matter over with the
others, but still the influence of discipline was upon them, and they
had to do their duty. As a consequence, Paul was soon away from the
noise of the excited crowd, and a few minutes later was alone in his
cell. As may be imagined, if the scene that morning had caused such
excitement among the spectators, it had aroused his nature to the very