“On your refusal and contumacy,” said the sheriff, “it being right that the obstinacy of the law should equal the obstinacy of the criminal, the proof has been continued according to the edicts and texts.  The first day you were given nothing to eat or drink.”

“Hoc est superjejunare,” said the serjeant.

There was silence, the awful hiss of the man’s breathing was heard from under the heap of stones.

The serjeant-at-law completed his quotation.

“Adde augmentum abstinentiae ciborum diminutione.  Consuetudo brittanica, art. 504.”

The two men, the sheriff and the serjeant, alternated.  Nothing could be more dreary than their imperturbable monotony.  The mournful voice responded to the ominous voice; it might be said that the priest and the deacon of punishment were celebrating the savage mass of the law.

The sheriff resumed,—­

“On the first day you were given nothing to eat or drink.  On the second day you were given food, but nothing to drink.  Between your teeth were thrust three mouthfuls of barley bread.  On the third day they gave you to drink, but nothing to eat.  They poured into your mouth at three different times, and in three different glasses, a pint of water taken from the common sewer of the prison.  The fourth day is come.  It is to-day.  Now, if you do not answer, you will be left here till you die.  Justice wills it.”

The Serjeant, ready with his reply, appeared.

“Mors rei homagium est bonae legi.”

“And while you feel yourself dying miserably,” resumed the sheriff, “no one will attend to you, even when the blood rushes from your throat, your chin, and your armpits, and every pore, from the mouth to the loins.”

“A throtabolla,” said the Serjeant, “et pabu et subhircis et a grugno usque ad crupponum.”

The sheriff continued,—­

“Man, attend to me, because the consequences concern you.  If you renounce your execrable silence, and if you confess, you will only be hanged, and you will have a right to the meldefeoh, which is a sum of money.”

“Damnum confitens,” said the Serjeant, “habeat le meldefeoh.  Leges Inae, chapter the twentieth.”

“Which sum,” insisted the sheriff, “shall be paid in doitkins, suskins, and galihalpens, the only case in which this money is to pass, according to the terms of the statute of abolition, in the third of Henry V., and you will have the right and enjoyment of scortum ante mortem, and then be hanged on the gibbet.  Such are the advantages of confession.  Does it please you to answer to justice?”

The sheriff ceased and waited.

The prisoner lay motionless.

The sheriff resumed,—­

“Man, silence is a refuge in which there is more risk than safety.  The obstinate man is damnable and vicious.  He who is silent before justice is a felon to the crown.  Do not persist in this unfilial disobedience.  Think of her Majesty.  Do not oppose our gracious queen.  When I speak to you, answer her; be a loyal subject.”