“Oh no⁠—it’s the work of an instant. They put a man inside a frame and a sort of broad knife falls by machinery⁠—they call the thing a guillotine⁠—it falls with fearful force and weight⁠—the head springs off so quickly that you can’t wink your eye in between. But all the preparations are so dreadful. When they announce the sentence, you know, and prepare the criminal and tie his hands, and cart him off to the scaffold⁠—that’s the fearful part of the business. The people all crowd round⁠—even women⁠—though they don’t at all approve of women looking on.”

“No, it’s not a thing for women.”