FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110  
111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   >>   >|  
and it looked white." "He was afraid, eh? He was a coward? This poor cheat of a creature could not even be a brigand?" "Afraid! Any one would be. As for myself, I gave my mule a cut and he was off at a lope, with this fellow coming after as fast as his legs could carry him, until he ran plump into the arms of the civil guard." "Yes, yes. You have told all that. But this voice. You heard it plainly?" "Why, yes, although it sounded as if it came from a distance, or from under a building, or--or--out of a tomb. I couldn't--I couldn't help thinking it sounded like a man beneath a floor." The attorney twisted his beard again impatiently, coughed, then tightly folded his arms. He was silent for a little. Then, as if surprising himself out of a revery, he commanded, "Well, well. Go on." "This voice, senor," resumed the witness, leaning forward and speaking mysteriously, "it was so hollow and low, and spoke the words so long, like a creature dying and in pain, and it gave me a chill." "Are you never to tell us what it said?" "It moaned, 'For the sake of the Virgin, of Her Blessed Son, of the Holy Saint Peter, of the Good God, pray for me. Pray for a sinner. Beg the good fathers at Nuevitas to say a mass for the soul of Enrique Carillo.' Then there was a sort of groan----" "My God!" It was the prosecutor who had gasped the words. "Yes, just like that. Ah! Pardon, senor. I did not see. You are ill." For the lawyer's face had become of a deathly pallor, his head had sunk forward, his lips trembled, his hands shook as they clutched the edge of the table behind him. The idlers in the back of the room were awake in a moment. The sun touched the figure of Christ, splashed with blood in the fashion of the official crucifix, and it seemed to look down on the scene below as in torture. The prisoner's counsel sprang forward, placed a chair for his opponent and helped him to be seated. An officer brought a glass of water, which the lawyer drank eagerly, then sat as in a daze for an instant, shuddered, passed his hands over his face, and said, "I ask the indulgence of the court. I have lost my sleep for the last few nights. I--I----" The senior judge had half-risen, his wig awry, his hands gripping the arms of the chair. "Clear the court! It is the fever!" he cried. There was a stampede of the unoccupied in the back of the room. The others in the court reached for their hats and drew away, leaving the prosecutor
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110  
111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

forward

 

prosecutor

 

sounded

 
couldn
 
creature
 

lawyer

 
moment
 

Christ

 

splashed

 

fashion


figure
 

touched

 

pallor

 

deathly

 

Pardon

 
official
 

clutched

 

trembled

 

gasped

 
idlers

officer

 
gripping
 

senior

 

nights

 

indulgence

 

leaving

 

reached

 
stampede
 

unoccupied

 

sprang


counsel

 

opponent

 

seated

 

helped

 

prisoner

 

torture

 

instant

 

shuddered

 

passed

 

eagerly


brought

 

crucifix

 

plainly

 

distance

 

beneath

 

attorney

 
twisted
 

thinking

 

building

 

brigand