It requires to be accentuated that Miss Cavell, apart from her profession, was a well-read woman. She knew more than a little of modern German philosophy, and had come to believe that the triumph of Prussianism would result in the collapse of Christianity. Once, when she was expressing some such view, a friend inquired whether it was prudent. 'Prudent?' she exclaimed, with reproach in her eyes. 'In times like these, when terror makes might seem right, there is a higher duty than prudence.' And as she was a woman who would not count the cost of clinging to her standards, she was little likely to hide her opinions when confronted by the enemy. It is a prime feature of English justice that the veriest felon need not incriminate himself; nay, he is specifically warned that any statement he makes may be used as evidence against him. Practically he is reminded of the old legal axiom that a man who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client, with the consequent advisability to bridle his tongue against any unwise admission. The conception of German justice in Brussels was the converse, and the accusers of the Red Cross representative of a hated race deliberately laid snares for the extortion of the evidence they required. The course of procedure was terribly reminiscent of the methods of the old Spanish Inquisition. True, Miss Cavell was not subjected to actual physical torture, but the mental strain was calculated to break down anything in the nature of obstinacy. With diabolical cunning she was cut off from communication with the world outside the jail as completely as if she were dead, lest any whisper of warning to guard her tongue might reach her from outside; and often she had to face interrogation by brutal and implacable enemies, who sought not to do her justice, but only to assure her condemnation. It is a comfort to believe that Miss Cavell's keen perception and her knowledge of German unscrupulousness enabled her to realize the inevitable end that awaited her, thus saving her from carking speculation that might have unhinged her reason. With Christian fortitude she grasped the inestimable boon of resignation, fully assured that 'death is the liberator of him whom freedom cannot release, and the comforter of him whom time cannot console.' Really the secrecy of her arrest and imprisonment and the precautions taken for her utter isolation were scarcely worth the trouble the crafty conspirators had taken, for Nurse Cavell took up a simple and heroic position that greatly simplified matters from the German standpoint. She was not an inexperienced girl, she was a noble woman of clever intellect, and had never been in doubt of the penalty she might incur by succouring compatriots and friends in distress in defiance of the German military code.