We see that, though it condemned the accused to death, which indeed could
hardly be avoided, the sentence was both in form and substance as mild as
possible, since, though Sand was convicted, his poor family was not
reduced by the expenses of a long and costly trial to complete ruin.

Five days were still allowed to elapse, and the verdict was not announced
until the 17th. When Sand was informed that two councillors of justice
were at the door, he guessed that they were coming to read his sentence
to him; he asked a moment to rise, which he had done but once before, in
the instance already narrated, during fourteen months. And indeed he was
so weak that he could not stand to hear the sentence, and after having
greeted the deputation that death sent to him, he asked to sit down,
saying that he did so not from cowardice of soul but from weakness of
body; then he added, "You are welcome, gentlemen; far I have suffered so
much for fourteen months past that you come to me as angels of
deliverance."

He heard the sentence quite unaffectedly and with a gentle smile upon his
lips; then, when the reading was finished, he said--

"I look for no better fate, gentlemen, and when, more than a year ago, I
paused on the little hill that overlooks the town, I saw beforehand the
place where my grave would be; and so I ought to thank God and man far
having prolonged my existence up to to-day."

The councillors withdrew; Sand stood up a second time to greet them on
their departure, as he had done on their entrance; then he sat down again
pensively in his chair, by which Mr. G, the governor of the prison, was
standing. After a moment of silence, a tear appeared at each of the
condemned man's eyelids, and ran down his cheeks; then, turning suddenly