He is merely detained pending his trial." "But in prison ?" "Yes," I was forced to admit; "in Holloway prison." She looked me stonily in the face for some seconds, pale and wide-eyed, but silent; then, with a sudden catch in her breath, she turned away, and, grasping the edge of the mantel-shelf, laid her head upon her arm and burst into a passion of sobbing.
Now I am not, in general, an emotional man, nor even especially impulsive; but neither am I a stock or a stone or an effigy of wood; which I most surely must have been if I could have looked without being deeply moved on the grief, so natural and unselfish, of this strong, brave, loyal-hearted woman.

In effect, I moved to her side and, gently taking in mine the hand that hung down, murmured some incoherent words of consolation in a particularly husky voice.
Presently she recovered herself somewhat and softly withdrew her hand, as she turned towards me drying her eyes.
"You must forgive me for distressing you, as I fear I have," she said; "for you are so kind, and I feel that you are really my friend and Reuben's." "I am indeed, dear Miss Gibson," I replied, "and so, I assure you, is my colleague." "I am sure of it," she rejoined.

"But I was so unprepared for this--I cannot say why, excepting that I trusted so entirely in Dr.
Thorndyke--and it is so horrible and, above all, so dreadfully suggestive of what may happen.

Up to now the whole thing has seemed like a nightmare--terrifying, but yet unreal.

But now that he is actually in prison, it has suddenly become a dreadful reality and I am overwhelmed with terror.