*/
    public int readCharacter(boolean checkForAltKeyCombo) throws IOException {
        int c = reader.read();
        if (c >= 0) {
            Log.trace("Keystroke: ", c);
            // clear any echo characters
            if (terminal.isSupported()) {
                clearEcho(c);
            }
            if (c == ESCAPE && checkForAltKeyCombo && in.peek(escapeTimeout) >= 32) {
              /* When ESC is encountered and there is a pending
               * character in the pushback queue, then it seems to be
               * an Alt-[key] combination.  Is this true, cross-platform?
               * It's working for me on Debian GNU/Linux at the moment anyway.
               * I removed the "isNonBlockingEnabled" check, though it was
               * in the similar code in "readLine(String prompt, final Character mask)" (way down),
               * as I am not sure / didn't look up what it's about, and things are working so far w/o it.
               */
              int next = reader.read();
              // with research, there's probably a much cleaner way to do this, but, this is now it flags an Alt key combination for now:
              next = next + 1000;
              return next;
            }
        }
        return c;
    }