Another blush followed this unregal outburst, and he covered his indecorum as well as he could by adding —

“It enrageth me that a man should be hanged upon such idle, hare-brained evidence!”

A low buzz of admiration swept through the assemblage.

It was not admiration of the decree that had been delivered by Tom, for the propriety or expediency of pardoning a convicted poisoner was a thing which few there would have felt justified in either admitting or admiring — no, the admiration was for the intelligence and spirit which Tom had displayed. Some of the low-voiced remarks were to this effect —

“This is no mad king — he hath his wits sound.”