He tipped his
hat to me as politely as if I were the finest lady in the land, and
cried out, "Good morning Miss Lucy, I suppose you had pleasant dreams
last night!" He seemed so bright and smiling that I was imbued with
renewed hope; and when he addressed the sheriff with "Good morning
Sir. I don't suppose the jury was out twenty minutes were they?" and
the sheriff replied "oh! no, sir," my heart gave a leap, for I was
sure that my fate was decided for weal or woe.
I watched the judge until he turned the corner and desiring to be
relieved of suspense from my pent-up anxiety, I eagerly asked the
sheriff if I were free, but he gruffly answered that "he didn't know."
I was sure he did know, but was too mean to tell me. How could he have
been so flinty, when he must have seen how worried I was.
At last the courthouse was reached and I had taken my seat in such a
condition of helpless terror that I could not tell one person from
another. Friends and foes were as one, and vainly did I try to
distinguish them. My long confinement, burdened with harrowing
anxiety, the sleepless night I had just spent, the unaccountable
absence of my mother, had brought me to an indescribable condition. I
felt dazed, as if I were no longer myself.
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