Page:Randall Parrish - The Red Mist.djvu/222



T WAS dreary waiting, for every unusual sound reaching me brought with it a throb of fear. That my fate was already practically settled I knew, but how long the delay might be remained a problem. All I could hope for was that final action might be postponed until the morrow, thus giving me the protection of the night in which to put my plans into execution. Again and again I reviewed all the circumstances, so far as I understood them, seeking to convince myself that this time would be permitted me. Yet it was all guesswork, and I doubted my own conclusions. Colonel Pickney was evidently a stern and resolute officer, yet with a kindly expression in his face, yielding me some hope of delay. He would do his duty undoubtedly, but was not a man to take pleasure in the execution of such a sentence involving a human life. He would naturally postpone the inevitable as long as possible, in the hope that I might change my mind, or that some conditions might arise to relieve him of the unpleasant responsibility. He might even decide the matter of sufficient 206