'Twas a great lesson.'
'I feel it so.'
'And teaches us how vile and valueless is the opinion of our
fellow-men.'
'Alas! 'tis true.'
'I am glad to see thee in this wholesome temper. 'Tis full of wisdom.'
'The miserable are often wise.'
'But to believe is nothing unless we act. Speculation should only
sharpen practice. The time hath come to prove thy lusty faith in this
philosophy. I told thee we could make terms. I have made them. To-morrow
it was doomed Alroy should die--and what a death! A death of infinite
torture! Hast ever seen a man impaled?'[81]
'Hah!'
'To view it is alone a doom.'
'God of Heaven!'
'It is so horrible, that 'tis ever marked, that when this direful
ceremony occurs, the average deaths in cities greatly increase. 'Tis
from the turning of the blood in the spectators, who yet from some
ungovernable madness cannot refrain from hurrying to the scene. I speak
with some authority. I speak as a physician.'
'Speak no more, I cannot endure it.'
'To-morrow this doom awaited thee. As for Schirene----'
'Not for her, oh! surely not for her?'
'No, they were merciful. She is a Caliph's daughter. 'Tis not forgotten.
The axe would close her life. Her fair neck would give slight trouble to
the headsman's art.
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