People listened breathlessly.
“Do you find the defendant guilty, or not?”
“Not guilty.”
The reaction was so sharp as to be almost overpowering. But poor Erica's joy was but short-lived. She looked at her father's face and knew that, although one anxiety was ended, another was already begun.
CHAPTER XXXVIII. Halcyon Days
There is a sweetness in autumnal days,
Which many a lip doth praise;
When the earth, tired a little, and grown mute
Of song, and having borne its fruit,
Rests for a little ere the winter come.
It is not sad to turn the face toward home,
Even though it show the journey nearly done;
It is not sad to mark the westering sun,
Even though we know the night doth come,
Silence there is, indeed, for song,
Twilight for noon,
But for the steadfast soul and strong
Life's autumn is as June. From the “Ode of Life”
“Anything in the papers this evening?” asked a young clergyman, who was in one of the carriages of the Metropolitan Railway late in the afternoon of an August day.
“Nothing of much interest,” replied his wife, handing him the newspaper she had been glancing through. “I see that wretched Raeburn is ill. I wish he'd die.”
“Oh! Broken down at last, has he?” said the other. “Where is it? Oh, yes, I see. Ordered to take immediate and entire rest. Will be paralyzed in a week if he doesn't. Pleasant alternative that! Result of excessive overwork. Fancy calling this blasphemous teaching work! I could hang that man with my own hands!”