— XLI —THE MEANS OF PERSUASION
What Mr. Smithers had been expecting to see he could not himself have said – possibly some grotesque implement of hideous torture, but not this. Indeed, so wholly taken was he by surprise, so far from anticipating any visitation of the kind, that he at first supposed that the agony which his bonds were causing him had mounted to his brain, and that what he seemed to see in front of him was an optical delusion. So it happened that for some seconds he continued to stare in silence at Netta, and she at him, both appearing unable to credit the evidence of their own senses.
Her veil, which was drawn aside, drooped over the brim of her hat. Her cheeks were colourless; then, on a sudden, they went fiery red, and paled again. Her eyes showed signs of weeping; even
