They had crowded there
to see and they would see. Were he to shirk the ordeal! Were he to
wait for the square to be cleared--But they knew him too well to
fear this. He will come--nay, he is coming now--and coming alone!
No other figure looms so grandly in a doorway, nor is there any
other face in Shelby whose pallor could strike so coldly to the
heart, or rouse such conflicting emotions.
He was evidently not prepared to see his path quite so heavily
marked out for him by the gaping throng; but after one look, he
assumed some show of his old commanding presence and advanced
bravely down the steps, awing some and silencing all, until he had
reached his carriage step and the protection of the officers on
guard.
Then a hoot rose from some far-off quarter of the square, and he
turned short about and the people saw his face. Despair had seized
it, and if any one there desired vengeance, he had it. The knell
of active life had been rung for this man. He would never remount
the courthouse steps, or face again a respectful jury.
As for Deborah, she had shrunk out of sight at his approach, but
as soon as he had ridden off, she looked eagerly for a taxicab to
carry her in his wake. She could not let him ride that mile alone.
She was still fearful for him, though the mass of people about her
was rapidly dissolving away, and the streets growing clear.
But an apprehension still greater, because more personal, seized
her when she found herself behind him on the long road.
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