ectly uniform seemed the wall. the knife which had been in my the inquisitorial chamber. But Mothes had been exchanged for a serge. I had thought of forcing e minute crevice of the masonry, my point of departure. The eless was but trivial; although, in y fancy, it seemed at first insuperart of the hem from the robe, and ment at full length, and at right All. In groping my way around the not fail to encounter this rag upon circuit. So, at least, I thought; t counted upon the extent of the pon my own weakness. The ground ad slippery. I staggered onward for when I stumbled and fell. My exhe induced me to remain prostrate, in overtook me as I lay.

king, and stretching forth an arm, I to me a loaf and a pitcher with water. much exhausted to reflect upon this ice, but ate and drank with avidity. orward I resumed my tour around the 4, with much toil, came at last upon the of the serge. Up to the period when I i counted fifty-two paces, and, upon rey walk, had counted forty-eight more arrived at the rag. There were in all, undred paces; and, admitting two paces yard, I presumed the dungeon to be fifty circuit. I had met, however, with many in the wall, and thus I could form no guess shape of the vault-for vault I could not upposing it to be.

ad little object-certainly no hope-in these rches; but a vague curiosity prompted me to inue them. Quitting the wall, I resolved to the area of the enclosure. At first I proled with extreme caution; for the floor, although mingly of solid material, was treacherous with me. At length, however, I took courage, and d not hesitate to step firmly endeavouring to oss in as direct a line as possible. I had advanced ome ten or twelve paces in this manner when the remnant of the torn hem of my robe became entangled between my legs. I stepped on it, and fell violently on my face.

In the confusion attending my fall, I did not immediately apprehend a somewhat startling circumstance, which yet, in a few seconds afterward, and while I still lay prostrate, arrested my attention. It was this: my chin rested upon the floor of the prison, but my lips and the upper portion of my head, although seemingly at a less elevation than the chin, touched nothing. At the same time, my forehead seemed bathed in a clammy vapour, and the peculiar smell of decayed fungus arose to

my nostrils. I put forward my arm, and shuddered to find that I had fallen at the very brink of a circular pit, whose extent, of course, I had no means of ascertaining at the moment. Groping about the masonry just below the margin, I succeeded in dislodging a small fragment, and let it fall into the abyss. For many seconds I hearkened to its reverberations, as it dashed against the sides of the chasm in its descent; at length there was a sudden plunge into water, succeeded by loud echoes. At the same moment there came a sound resembling the quick opening and as rapid closing of a door overhead, while a faint gleam of light flashed suddenly through the gloom, and as suddenly faded away.

I saw clearly the doom which had been prepared for me, and congratulated myself upon the timely accident by which I had escaped. Another step before my fall, and the world had seen me no more; and the death, just avoided, was of that very character which I had regarded as fabulous and frivolous in the tales respecting the Inquisition. To the victims of its tyranny there was the choice of death with its direst physical agonies, or death with its most hideous moral horrors. I had been reserved for the latter.

Shaking in every limb, I groped my way back to the wall-resolving there to perish rather than risk the terrors of the wells, of which my imagination now pictured many in various positions about the dungeon. In other conditions of mind I might have had courage to end my misery at once, by a plunge into one of these abysses; but now I was the veriest of cowards. Neither could I forget what I had read of these pits-that the sudden extinction of life formed no part of their most horrible plan.

Agitation of spirit kept me awake for many long hours; but at length I again slumbered. Upon arousing, I found by my side, as before, a loaf and a pitcher of water. A burning thirst consumed me, and I emptied the vessel at a draught. It must have been drugged-for scarcely had I drunk before I became irresistibly drowsy. A deep sleep fell upon me-a sleep like that of death. How long it lasted, of course I knew not; but when once again I unclosed my eyes, the objects around me were visible. By a wild, sulphurous lustre, the origin of which I could not at first determine, I was enabled to see the extent and aspect of the prison.

In its size I had been greatly mistaken. The whole circuit of its walls did not exceed twentyfive yards. In my first attempt at exploration I had counted fifty-two paces, up to the period when I fell; I must then have been within a pace or two of the fragment of serge-in fact, I had nearly performed the circuit of the vault. I then slept, and, upon awaking, I must have returned upon my steps-thus supposing the circuit nearly double