I told him No; for I had heard nothing of it at that time.
He came and sat down, motioning me too to a seat; for I had stood up when he did.
"Well," he said, "it is certainly strange enough, and I should not have believed it, if it had not happened to myself."
Again he stopped with an odd look.
"Well," he said, "here is the tale; and I will swear to it. You know how unwilling I was to sign the death-warrants."
"Yes, Sir; all the world knows that."
"And all the world knows that I did it," he said with a vehement kind of bitterness. "Yes; I did it, for there was no way out of it that I could see. It was they or the Crown must go. But I never intended it; and I swore I would not."
"Yes, Sir," I said quietly, "you said so to me."
"Did I? Well, I said so to many. I even swore that my right hand might rot off if I did it."
His heavy face was all working. I had seldom seen him so much moved.