All he can think of is to pull a strap tight, and
when he can't get it any tighter he's at the end
of his resources. Any fool can do that! But
you---- 'Sign your own death sentence, please;
I'm too tender-hearted to do it myself.' Oh! it
would take a Christian to hit on that--a gentle,
compassionate Christian, that turns pale at the
sight of a strap pulled too tight! I might have
known when you came in, like an angel of mercy--
so shocked at the colonel's 'barbarity'--that the
real thing was going to begin! Why do you look
at me that way? Consent, man, of course, and
go home to your dinner; the thing's not worth all
this fuss. Tell your colonel he can have me shot,
or hanged, or whatever comes handiest--roasted
alive, if it's any amusement to him--and be done
with it!"
The Gadfly was hardly recognizable; he was
beside himself with rage and desperation, panting
and quivering, his eyes glittering with green reflections
like the eyes of an angry cat.
Montanelli had risen, and was looking down at
him silently.
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