stared at her. It made his flesh creep. What was the
matter with her, what could be going on, to affect any one
like that? She sat as one turned to stone, her hands
clenched tightly in her lap, so tightly that he could see the
cords standing out in her wrists. There was a look of
excitement upon her face, of tense effort, as of one strug~
gling mightily, or witnessing a struggle. There was a
faint quivering of her nostrils; and now and then she
would moisten her lips with feverish haste. Her bosom
rose and fell as she breathed, and her excitement seemed
to mount higher and higher, and then to sink away again,
like a boat tossing upon ocean surges. What was it?
What was the matter? It must be something that the
man was saying, up there on the platform. What sort of
a man was he? And what sort of a thing was this, any~
how? -- So all at once it occurred to Jurgis to look at
the speaker.

It was like coming suddenly upon some wild sight of
nature, -- a mountain forest lashed by a tempest, a ship
tossed about upon a stormy sea. Jurgis had an unpleasant
sensation, a sense of confusion, of disorder, of wild and
meaningless uproar. The man was tall and gaunt, as
haggard as his auditor himself; a thin black beard cov~
ered half of his face, and one could see only two black
hollows where the eyes were. He was speaking rapidly,
in great excitement; he used many gestures -- as he spoke
he moved here and there upon the stage, reaching with
his long arms as if to seize each person in his audience.
His voice was deep, like an organ; it was some time, how~
ever, before Jurgis thought of the voice -- he was too
much occupied with his eyes to think of what the man was
saying. But suddenly it seemed as if the speaker had begun
pointing straight at him, as if he had singled him out par~
ticularly for his remarks; and so Jurgis became suddenly
aware of the voice, trembling, vibrant with emotion, with
pain and longing, with a burden of things unutterable, not
to be compassed by words. To hear it was to be suddenly
arrested, to be gripped, transfixed.

"You listen to these things," the man was saying, "and

[[358]]

p357 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p358w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p359

v?