Landolin was again alone. He visited, in fancy, the various inns of the
city, and the beer-garden near the station. He seemed to hear what the
people said--how they could hardly wait for the time when they might
see him in the prisoner's seat. Nothing is thought of to-day but
whether Landolin will be sentenced to death, or to long imprisonment,
or will be acquitted.
Something that was almost a prayer passed through his soul, but he did
not utter it; for he could not escape the thought that Cushion-Kate was
to-day praying to God for his just punishment. He started back. It
seemed to him as though she, herself, had run against him bodily.
The prison door was unlocked. Landolin was led through along passage to
the prisoner's waiting-room. The doors and the windows of the large
court-room were open; bright sunshine streamed in; the room was
empty---soon it would be crowded. The two keepers walked back and forth
near Landolin. Loud laughing and talking could be heard from the street
before the court-house. Who knows what jokes they were making! Men can
still laugh though there is one up here whose heart would fain stand
still. Landolin's eyes glistened. He said to himself: "After all I was
right in despising the whole world."
In the room in which he was now confined he could hear, as he listened
at the door, the tramp of steps through the long corridor. He would
have been glad to know whose steps they were. A confused sound of
voices reached his ear. At length he plainly heard the words "My
father!" It was Peter's voice. No doubt he had called so loud on
purpose that his father might hear him. Landolin felt as though he were
buried alive. He heard voices and could not answer them. His head swam
so that he leaned against the door-post.
The door was unlocked, and Landolin was led into the court-room.
CHAPTER XXIX.
His eyes fastened on the floor, with measured steps Landolin entered
the room. He seemed about to turn to the jury box, but the keeper laid
hold of his arm, and motioned him to the prisoner's dock.
When he reached it he straightened himself with a violent effort, and
looked calmly around; but he must have felt something like a veil
before his eyes, for he repeatedly drew his hands over them. He saw his
son Peter, who nodded to him, but he only answered with a slight motion
of his head. He recognized men and women from his and neighboring
villages; but Cushion-Kate's red kerchief was not to be seen.
He surveyed the jury with a keen scrutiny. He knew them all. They all
stared at him, but no one of them gave him to understand, by so much as
a motion of the eyelids: I know you and am friendly to you. The miller
was not on the jury.
Who is foreman?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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