re, witness, and to whom you are speaking."

"I know too well, and I shall not say too much. I hereby declare that I
have some important things to say, and that I should have said them at
the right time, if you had not done violence to the time. I wish to say
them, and I shall; and, believe me, it is better that I should make them
known while it is still possible to revise these proceedings. It is even
better for the judges than the prisoner; for the one comes to life again
in honour, as soon as the others die in infamy."

"Witness," said the irritated magistrate, "the virulence and
impertinence of your language will be prejudicial rather than
advantageous to the prisoner."

"And who says that I am favourable to the prisoner?" said Patience in a
voice of thunder. "What do you know about me? What if it pleases me
to change an illegal and worthless verdict into one which is legal and
irrevocable?"

"But how can you reconcile this desire to see the laws respected," said
the magistrate, genuinely moved by Patience's powerful personality,
"with your own breach of them in not appearing when summoned by the
public prosecutor?"

"I did not wish to appear."

"Severe penalties may be inflicted on those whose wishes are not in
harmony with the laws of the land."

"Possibly."

"Have you come here to-day with the intention of submitting to them?"

"I have come to see that you respect them."

"I warn you that, if you do not change your tone, I shall have you taken
off to prison."

"And I warn you that, if you love justice and serve God, you will listen
to me and suspend the execution of this sentence. It is not for him who
brings truth to humble himself before those who should be seeking it.
But you who are listening to me now, you men of the people, whom I will
not accuse the great of wishing to dupe, you whose voice is called 'the
voice of God,' side with me; embrace the cause of truth, that truth
which is in danger of being stifled under false outward shows, or else
is about to triumph by unfair means. Go down on your knees, you men
of the people, my brothers, my children; pray, implore, require that
justice be done and anger repressed. It is your duty, it is your right,
and to your own interest; for it is you who are insulted and threatened
when laws are violated."

Patience spoke with so much warmth, and his sincerity was so strikingly
manifest, that a thrill of sympathy ran through the whole audience. At
that ti