“Do you know, I have been wondering what had become of you,” she said. She was not squeamish—although the sight of the sergeant’s ominous preparations had severely tried her fortitude—but Kimble’s white face plagued her conscience. Then pain entered their depths. I can be a gentleman. Wood, Sir," he added, with much emotion, "is one of the best of men, and would be the happiest, were it not that—" and he hesitated. The arm about her was steel hard, and she felt the weapon that was placed at her heart, which thumped uncomfortably in her chest.