Oldfield: A Kentucky Tale of the Last CenturyBanks, Nancy Huston
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Oldfield: A Kentucky Tale of the Last Century
Banks, Nancy Huston
Kentucky -- Fiction
No man might suffer it, and ever hope to hold up his head among his
fellow-men, without killing, or at least trying to kill, the man who had
so degraded him. Breathless, indeed, was this instant's terrible
waiting! The bloodthirsty wild beast, which lurks forgotten in most
men's hearts, now leaped up in its secret lair, scenting blood, and
stared fiercely out of the fierce eyes fixed on the judge. And not one
of all these men--all so feeling, all so believing--could credit the
evidence of his own senses when he saw this man, who stood so high above
other men in body, in mind, and in reputation, now stand still, making
no farther advance. Even less could they believe what their own eyes
beheld, when they then saw him draw back, slowly and silently, from the
nearness to the Spaniard to which that single uncontrollable bound had
carried him. And so the crowd stood--stricken dumb and motionless-for a
breath's space! Then--suddenly--every upraised arm came down as the
judge's powerful arms fell at his side. Calmly, almost gently, he
turned, and, raising his majestic form to its fullest height, and
lifting his noble head to its highest level, he rested his calm, clear
gaze on the murderous passion of the Spaniard's eyes. It was a long,
strange look. It was a look which filled every man who saw it with a
feeling of awe; even though not one, of all those who were looking on,
could comprehend its meaning. It was a look such as not many are
permitted to try to comprehend: it was a look such as no mortal men can
ever have seen, save it may have been the few who stood close to the
foot of the Cross.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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