Thus while the hero spake, Witiza stood
Listening in agony, with open mouth,
And head, half-raised, toward his sentence turn’d;
His eye-lids stiffen’d and pursed up, ... his eyes
Rigid, and wild, and wide; and when the King
Had ceased, amid the silence which ensued,
The dastard’s chains were heard, link against link
Clinking. At length upon his knees he fell,
And lifting up his trembling hands, outstretch’d
In supplication, ... Mercy! he exclaim’d....