commotion, and of Colburn's fierce whisper, "You can't! You get up
there!" And the blanched Ramsey came forth and placed himself at the
other desk.

He stood before the silent populace of that morgue, and it seemed to him
that his features had forgotten that he was supposed to be their owner
and in control of them; he felt that they were slipping all over his
face, regardless of his wishes. His head, as a whole, was subject to
an agitation not before known by him; it desired to move rustily in
eccentric ways of its own devising; his legs alternately limbered and
straightened under no direction but their own; and his hands clutched
each other fiercely behind his back; he was not one cohesive person,
evidently, but an assembled collection of parts which had relapsed each
into its own individuality. In spite of them, he somehow contrived the
semblance of a bow toward the chairman and the semblance of another
toward Dora, of whom he was but hazily conscious. Then he opened his
mouth, and, not knowing how he had started his voice going, heard it as
if from a distance.

"In making my first appearance before this honor'ble membership I feel
restrained to say--" He stopped short, and thenceforward shook visibly.
After a long pause, he managed to repeat his opening, stopped again,
swallowed many times, produced a handkerchief and wiped his face, an act
of necessity--then had an inspiration.

"The subject assigned to me," he said, "is resolved that Germany is
mor'ly and legally justified in Belgians--Belgiums! This subject was
assigned to me to be the subject of this debate." He interrupted himself
to gasp piteously; found breathing difficult, but faltered again: "This
subject is the subject. It is the subject that was assigned to me on