he was, so now time had atoned for its past delay, and he might have
appeared to have told more years than had really gone over his head; but
the remarkable light and beauty of his eye was undimmed as ever, and
still the broad expanse of his forehead retained its unwrinkled surface
and striking expression of calmness and majesty. High, self-collected,
serene, and undaunted, he looked upon the crowd, the scene, the judge,
before and around him; and, even among those who believed him guilty,
that involuntary and irresistible respect which moral firmness always
produces on the mind, forced an unwilling interest in his fate, and even
a reluctant hope of his acquittal.

Houseman was called upon. No one could regard his face without a certain
mistrust and inward shudder. In men prone to cruelty, it has generally
been remarked, that there is an animal expression strongly prevalent in
the countenance. The murderer and the lustful man are often alike in the
physical structure. The bull-throat--the thick lips--the receding
forehead--the fierce restless eye--which some one or other says reminds
you of the buffalo in the instant before he becomes dangerous, are the
outward tokens of the natural animal unsoftened--unenlightened--
unredeemed--consulting only the immediate desires of his nature,
whatever be the passion (lust or revenge) to which they prompt. And this
animal expression, the witness of his character, was especially wrought,
if we may use the word, in House-man's rugged and harsh features;
rendered, if possible, still more remarkable at that time by a mixture of
sullenness and timidity. The conviction that his own life was saved,
could not prevent remorse at his treachery in accusing his comrade--a
sort of confused principle of which villains are the most susceptible,
when every other honest sentiment has deserted them.

With a low, choked, and sometimes a faltering tone, Houseman deposed,