escape – “…but as Providence had ordered it, she did not go home that night, and so escaped the snare I had laid for her.” This quote is explaining a night in whichPowers had plotted to hide in the bushes, waiting for his intended victim, who would have been raped but she was able to escape via divine intervention. This did not deter Powers from resuming his intended act of sexual violence and he was subsequently sentenced to jail but was able to esacape. He was then recaptured where he prompted began another plot to flee which was ultimately unsuccessful but gave him fleeting hope if not but for a moment.
awful sin – This is the terminology used by Powers to refer to his sexual acts these lustful desires were the reason of his downfall. He says that he disobeyed his master but it was the lust for flesh that began at when he and another woman were left at the house alone that resulted in his raping of a young woman and the death sentence. He attempted rape twice and was successful once, sealing his fate.
jollity – Powers writes that this happiness he sensed about his death and his secret hope of further escape kept the notion of his impending doom from troubling his mind. This seems very odd the the countenances of his spectators would help ease his mind, as if knowing everyone else is happy he is dying makes him feel as if it isn’t so bad. Very bizarre thought that doesn’t seem altogether very reliably written.