 for the prisoner to the place which she was
to occupy. By the authority of the Court, and the exertions of its officers, the
tumult among the spectators was at length appeased, and the unhappy girl brought
forward, and placed betwixt two sentinels with drawn bayonets, as a prisoner at
the bar, where she was to abide her deliverance for good or evil, according to
the issue of her trial.
 

                              Chapter Twenty-First

 We have strict statutes, and most biting laws -
 The needful bits and curbs for headstrong steeds -
 Which, for these fourteen years, we have let sleep,
 Like to an o'ergrown lion in a cave,
 That goes not out to prey.
                                                            Measure for Measure.
 
»Euphemia Deans,« said the presiding Judge, in an accent in which pity was
blended with dignity, »stand up and listen to the criminal indictment now to be
preferred against you.«
    The unhappy girl, who had been stupified by the confusion through which the
guards had forced a passage, cast a bewildered look on the multitude of faces
around her, which seemed to tapestry, as it were, the walls, in one broad slope
from the ceiling to the floor, with human countenances, and instinctively obeyed
a command, which rung in her ears like the trumpet of the judgment-day.
    »Put back your hair, Effie,« said one of the macers. For her beautiful and
abundant tresses of long fair hair, which, according to the costume of the
country, unmarried women were not allowed to cover with any sort of cap, and
which, alas! Effie dared no longer confine with the snood or riband, which
implied purity of maiden-fame, now hung unbound and dishevelled over her face,
and almost concealed her features. On receiving this hint from the attendant,
the unfortunate young woman, with a hasty, trembling, and apparently mechanical
compliance, shaded back from her face her luxuriant locks, and showed to the
whole court, excepting one individual, a countenance, which, though pale and
emaciated, was so lovely amid its agony, that it called forth a universal murmur
of compassion and sympathy. Apparently the expressive sound of human feeling
recalled the poor girl from the stupor of fear, which predominated at first over
every other sensation, and awakened her to the no less painful sense of shame
and exposure attached to her present situation. Her eye, which had at first
glanced wildly around, was turned on the ground; her cheek, at first so deadly
pale, began gradually to be overspread with a faint blush, which increased so
fast,
