Miss Weeks sufficient warning of what she might expect in another
moment. Making the most of her diminutive figure,--such a
startling contrast to the one which had just dominated there!--she
was about to utter an impassioned appeal to their honour, when the
current of her and their thoughts, as well as the direction of all
looks, was changed by a sudden sense common to all, of some
strange new influence at work in the room, and turning, they
beheld the judge upon his feet, his mind awakened, but his eyes
still fixed--an awesome figure; some thought more awesome than
before; for the terror which still held him removed from all
about, was no longer passive but active and had to do with what no
man there could understand or alleviate. Death was present with
them--he saw it not. Strangers were making havoc with his
solitude--he was as oblivious of their presence as he had been
unconscious of it before. His faculties and all his attention were
absorbed by the thought which had filled his brain when the cogs
of that subtle mechanism had slipped and his faculties paused
inert.

This was shown by his first question:

"WHERE IS THE WOMAN?"

It was a cry of fear; not of mastery.




IV