along, and discharging it to mingle with the waves of other beer,

and gin, and tea, and coffee, and what not, that flowed at him, and

already broke upon the great windows behind him in an impure

mist and rain.

The object of all this staring and blaring, was a young man of

about five and twenty, well-grown and well-looking, with a

sunburnt cheek and a dark eye. His condition was that of a young

gentleman. He was plainly dressed in black, or very dark grey, and

Charles Dickens ElecBook Classics

his hair, which was long and dark, was gathered in a ribbon at the

back of his neck; more to be out of his way than for ornament. As

an emotion of the mind will express itself through any covering of

the body, so the paleness which his situation engendered came

through the brown upon his cheek, showing the soul to be

stronger than the sun. He was otherwise quite self-possessed,

bowed to the Judge, and stood quiet.

The sort of interest with which this man was stared and

breathed at, was not a sort that elevated humanity. Had he stood

in peril of a less horrible sentencehad there been a chance of

any one of its savage details being sparedby just so much would

he have lost in his fascination. The form that was to be doomed to

be so shamefully mangled, was the sight; the immortal creature

that was to be so butchered and torn asunder, yi