Average! Great God, he was a ruler of princes, a master, a compeller of men....

He could imagine what noble nonsense Sumner would talk....

He looked with disfavor at the classic face of the Bostonian.
But Sumner for once seemed to share his feelings.

He, too, was looking with reverent eyes towards the bed, and as he caught Stanton's gaze he whispered words which the Secretary for War did not condemn: "The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places." The night hours crawled on with an intolerable slowness.

Some of the watchers sat, but Stanton remained rigid at the bed-foot.