Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1846-07-09
VOL. XII. NO. 34.--wHOLE NO. 2o7s

"Perhaps," added he, "you have had frightlul
DREAM and your imagination alone has raised the
stone and hurled this woman into the vault"
DO with me what you please" cried the peas
ant, "but in the name of the virgin, lose not mo.
meht IN rescuing the wreched girl She is there
with the dcadn
The judge yielded and accompanied by some Of
bis agents followed the peasant, who was first
bound aud surrounded by guard, that he might
answer with his life the truth of the accusation
They reach the fatal chapel. The stone ndca-
ted by the peasant is raised. Two men descend
INTO the vault and soon woman with her arms
tied is drawn forth. They have arrived in time
for she is still breathing.
general cry of horror and surprise went up
from the crowd, which had thronged around the
agents of the inquisiton. The young girl is rec
ognzed, who had been for eight months lost.
some days afterwards she was able to relate the
lrghlu' details Of her seizure and suffering. Ia
ken by force to the Convent by two monks and shut
up In thei cell, she at first the object of their
most assduous attention and kindness. After a
while they treated her with Indifference and then
with disgust. Finally, one day after i'll treatment
more severe than usual, she was told by them tc
think of her soul and to confess herself for the last
time. Her tears, her suppcations, her oaths Of
lnvlolabe secrecy, all were unavaillng.
Upon the disclosure of these facts the Cow ent
us may well be imagined, was thrown into the
greatest amaZetnent. The voice OF the public des
ignlted the two criminals, who already bad bat
reputation in the neighborhood. The peasant
when called upon to pass all the members of the
community in review, recognised the offenders, ant
pointed at them, beng too much overcome by hi;
emotions to speak.
1t remained to bring the accused into the pres
ence of their victim, who would gladly have avoid
ed the horrible interview. The two monks, who
had already confessed their crime, were brought tc
the bedside Of the sick girl. She covered her face
with her hands and begged for mercy in their be-
half
Every thing was reported in a way to satisfy the
public. The two criminals disappeared.
What had become Of them? 1t was pretended
at the time that they had been transferred to dis
tant Convent Some persons, however, knowing
the implacable severity Of the grand Inquisitor to-
wards guilty monks, or at any rate towards those
who were lndscreet enough to compromise the
honor of the religious order, suspected that they
had been condemned to suffer the cruel death which
they would have inflicted on their victim, by being
shut up in one Of those frightiu dungeons which
the ruins Of the old Convent disclose. This las
opinion was destined to be confirmed at the present
day by the discovery Of the two skeletons in the
way we have related.
The bones were transferred without ceremony tc
the vault of a neighborng cloistcr. The next day
a poor old woman of tho place brought to the
guardian Father the price Of mass for the repose
of the souls of the two unknown criminals. ltwas
their victim herself, who had come to offer one
more prayer for her eXecutloners.