The column headed "sentence" was still empty.
"Death!" he muttered. "Death!" he repeated, loud and shrill, and a shudder ran through his every fibre.
He sank back and hid his face which had suddenly become wasted.
"O my God!" he groaned. "I dare not let her die--her blood would cry out against me, against me only."
And he drew the paper towards him again and stared at the entry, piteously and beseechingly, as though he expected a miracle from Heaven, as though the letters must change beneath the intensity of his gaze.
The mid-day bells of the neighbouring cathedral aroused him from his gloomy brooding. He rose, smoothed his disarranged hair, forced on his accustomed look of quiet, and betook himself to Werner's room.
"You see," he said. "I have kept my word and am all right again. Are there any pressing matters to be rid of?"
"Only one," answered Werner. "The Committee of Discipline has waited your return, as it did not wish to decide an important case without you."
"Good, summon the Committee for five o'clock today."
He now went the round of the other offices, answered the anxious inquiries with the assurance that he was quite well again, and then went down a long corridor to his own quarters which were in another wing of the large building.