And still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled.

Was it possible they heard not?

Almighty God!

-- no, no? They heard! -- they suspected! -- they KNEW! --

they were making a mockery of my horror!

-- this I thought, and this I think.



But anything was better than this agony!

Anything was more tolerable than this derision!

I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer!



I felt that I must scream or die!