Under the Leads | Page 6

I saw the light in the garret, and rats of a
fearful size, which walked unconcernedly about it; these horrible
creatures coming close under my grating without shewing the slightest

fear. At the sight of these I hastened to close up the round hole in the
middle of the door with an inside shutter, for a visit from one of the rats
would have frozen my blood. I passed eight hours in silence and
without stirring, my arms all the time crossed on the top of the grating.
At last the clock roused me from my reverie, and I began to feel restless
that no one came to give me anything to eat or to bring me a bed
whereon to sleep. I thought they might at least let me have a chair and
some bread and water. I had no appetite, certainly; but were my gaolers
to guess as much? And never in my life had I been so thirsty. I was
quite sure, however, that somebody would come before the close of the
day; but when I heard eight o'clock strike I became furious, knocking at
the door, stamping my feet, fretting and fuming, and accompanying this
useless hubbub with loud cries. After more than an hour of this wild
exercise, seeing no one, without the slightest reason to think I could be
heard, and shrouded in darkness, I shut the grating for fear of the rats,
and threw myself at full length upon the floor. So cruel a desertion
seemed to me unnatural, and I came to the conclusion that the
Inquisitors had sworn my death. My investigation as to what I had done
to deserve such a fate was not a long one, for in the most scrupulous
examination of my conduct I could find no crimes. I was, it is true, a
profligate, a gambler, a bold talker, a man who thought of little besides
enjoying this present life, but in all that there was no offence against
the state. Nevertheless, finding myself treated as a criminal, rage and
despair made me express myself against the horrible despotism which
oppressed me in a manner which I will leave my readers to guess, but
which I will not repeat here. But notwithstanding my brief and anxiety,
the hunger which began to make itself felt, and the thirst which
tormented me, and the hardness of the boards on which I lay, did not
prevent exhausted nature from reasserting her rights; I fell asleep.
My strong constitution was in need of sleep; and in a young and
healthy subject this imperious necessity silences all others, and in this
way above all is sleep rightly termed the benefactor of man.
The clock striking midnight awoke me. How sad is the awaking when it
makes one regret one's empty dreams. I could scarcely believe that I

had spent three painless hours. As I lay on my left side, I stretched out
my right hand to get my handkerchief, which I remembered putting on
that side. I felt about for it, when--heavens! what was my surprise to
feel another hand as cold as ice. The fright sent an electric shock
through me, and my hair began to stand on end.
Never had I been so alarmed, nor should I have previously thought
myself capable of experiencing such terror. I passed three or four
minutes in a kind of swoon, not only motionless but incapable of
thinking. As I got back my senses by degrees, I tried to make myself
believe that the hand I fancied I had touched was a mere creature of my
disordered imagination; and with this idea I stretched out my hand
again, and again with the same result. Benumbed with fright, I uttered a
piercing cry, and, dropping the hand I held, I drew back my arm,
trembling all over:
Soon, as I got a little calmer and more capable of reasoning, I
concluded that a corpse had been placed beside me whilst I slept, for I
was certain it was not there when I lay down.
"This," said I, "is the body of some strangled wretch, and they would
thus warn me of the fate which is in store for me."
The thought maddened me; and my fear giving place to rage, for the
third time I stretched my arm towards the icy hand, seizing it to make
certain of the fact in all its atrocity, and wishing to get up, I rose upon
my left elbow, and found that I had got hold of my other hand.
Deadened by the weight of my body and the hardness of the boards, it
had lost warmth, motion, and all sensation.
In spite of the humorous features in this incident, it did not cheer me up,
but, on the contrary,