With
unexpected address, he waits for the judge to turn his head aside
when with a quick and dextrous movement he so launches the paper
from his hand that it falls softly and without flurry within an
inch of the judicial seat. Then he goes back to his papers.
This suggestion, at once so marked and so delicate, did not fail
of its effect upon those about. Wherever the judge looked he saw
abstracted faces and busy hands, and, taking heart at not finding
himself watched, he started to rise. Then memory came,--blasting,
overwhelming memory of the letter he had been reading; and,
rousing with a start, he looked down at his hand, then at the
floor before him, and, seeing the letter lying there, picked it up
with a secret, side-long glance to right and left, which sank deep
into the heart of the still watchful Deborah.
If those about him saw, they made no motion. Not an eye looked
round and not a head turned as he straightened himself and
proceeded to leave the room. Only Deborah noted how his steps
faltered and how little he was to be trusted to find his way
unguided to the door. It lay to the right and he was going left.
Now he stumbles--Isn't there any one to--Yes, she is not the sole
one on watch. The same man who had read aloud the note and then
dropped it within his reach, had stepped after him, and kindly, if
artfully, turned him towards the proper place of exit. As the two
disappear, Deborah wakes from her trance, and, finding herself
alone among the seats, hurries to quit her corner and leave the
building.
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