“Barnes, I want to say to you that no words can express the tremendous way in which all this was said. There was no cheap declamation, no shouting, no vulgar denunciation. It was simply overwhelming in its restrained intensity. You must believe it was, to hear me say so, of all men, for I sat there in the attitude, I may as well confess, of a critic and an enemy.

“Well, I would give a good deal to be able to describe the effect of his remarks on Drake and his wife and the rest at the table. But I don’t think it is possible. He sat there leaning forward in the attitude he had assumed when he asked the question. His face, as I glanced at it now and then, was ghastly—first white, then purple with amazement and rage. But he made no attempt to interrupt that calm, even flow of denunciation. Probably he couldn’t. I don’t know what it was, but there was something about it that was awful in its deliberate intensity.”

Carter paused again, and as he did not seem likely to continue for a time, Barnes eagerly said, “Did all this seem like an insolent or unpardonable thing, for a guest to say at a man’s table where he had been invited?”

Carter looked over at Barnes squarely. “No. I’m ready to say it didn’t. It all sounded somehow as if he had a right to say it anywhere. The particular place didn’t make a difference. When Jesus finished, he stood up. I had never felt before how tall he is. He towered with great dignity.

“Drake moistened his lips and several times he seemed to choke for utterance. Suddenly he blurted out, ‘I don’t intend to answer such questions from any—’ and he stopped.

“After a painful silence, Jesus said, ‘Neither will I answer your questions.’ Then he bowed to Mrs. Drake and the rest of the company in a most perfect manner, and walked out of the room.

“Now I realize, Barnes, how absolutely amazing and impossible all this seems. But the rest of it will seem even more so, perhaps.

“Drake had started up in his chair, then suddenly collapsed as if he had had a stroke. He fell forward with his head and shoulders all over the dishes in front of him. Mrs. Drake screamed, and everybody got up from the table in great confusion. When we lifted Drake up, he was foaming at the mouth and glaring in a way that was frightful. “Mrs. Drake did not seem much alarmed after the first few moments. She said he had had these attacks not infrequently of late.