Litchfield enquirer., 1851-05-15

undeniable disappearance Of two OF the
windows.
With intense anxiety Vivenzio looked
forward to the return Of night and as it
approached, he resolved that no treach-
erous sleep should again betray him. ln>
stead of seeking his bed Of straw, he con-
tinucd to walk up and down his dungeon
till daylight, straining his eyes in every
direction through the darkness, to watch
for any appearances that might explain
these mysteries. While thus engaged,
and, as nearly as he could judge, (by the
time that afterwards elapsed before morn
ing came ill., about two o'clock, there
was slight tremulous motion of the
floors. He stopped. The motion last
ed nearly a minute; but it was so ex.
tremely gentle that he almost doubted
whether it was real or only imaginary.
He listened. Not a sound could be heard.
Presently, however, he felt rush of cold
air blow upon him; and dashing towards
the quarter whence it seemed to proceed,
he stumbled over something which he
Judged TO be the water ever. The rush
of cold air was no longer perceptible and
as Vivenzio stretched out his hands, he
found himself close to the walls. He
remained motionless for considerable
time; but nothing occurred during the
remainder of the night to excite his at
tention, though he continued to watch
wit i ,,no botod yini1opoa
The first approaches of the morning
were visible through the grated windows,
breaking with faint divisions of light, the
darkness that still peryaded every other
part long before Vlvenzio was enabled to
distinguish any object in his dungeon.
Instinctively and fearfully he turned his
eyes, hot and inAamed with watching, to-
wards them. There were FouR He
could see only four; but it might be that
some intervening object prevented the
fifth from becoming perceptible; and he
waited impatiently to ascertain if it were
so. AS the light strengthened however,
and penetrated every corner Of the cell,
other objects Of amazement struck his
sight. On the ground lay the broken
fragments Of tie pitcher he had used the
day before, and at small distance from
them, nearer to the wall, stood the one
he had noticed the frs. night. 1t was
filled with water, and beside it was his
food. lie was now certain, that, by some
mechanical continuance, an opening was
obtained through the iron wall, and that
through this opening the current of air
had found entrance But how noiseless!
for had feather almost waved at the
time, he must have heard it. Again, he
examined that part Of the wall; but both
to sight and touch it appeared one even
and uniform service, while to repeated
and violen blows there was no reverber.
ating soun1 indicative of hollowness.
This perplexing mystery had for time
withdrawn his thoughts from the win
dows, but now directing his eyes again
towards them, he saw that the fifth had
disappeared in the same manner as the
preceding two withou: the least distin-
guishable alteration Of external appear
ances. The remaining four looked as the
seven had originally looked that is, ocs
cupying at irregular distances, the top
of the wall on that side of the dungeon
The tall folding door, too, still seemed
to stand beneath, in the centre of these
four, as it had first stood in the centre
of the seven. But he could no longer
doubt, what on the preceding day, he
fancied might be the effect of visual de,
ception. The dungeon was smaller /; the
roof had lowered and the opposite ends
had contracted the intermediate distance
by space equal, he thought. to that
over which the three windows had extern
ded. He was bewldered in vain imag-
inings to account for these things. Some
frightful purpose-some devilish torture
of mind or body--some unheard of de-
vice for producing exquisite misery -
lurked, he was sure, in what had taken
place.
Oppressed by This belief, and distract
ed more by the dreadful uncertainty Of
whatever fate impended, than he could
be dismayed, he thought, by the know.
ledge of the worst, hour after hour, yield.
ing his fears ia succession to every bag
gard fancy. At last horrible suspicion
flashed suddenly across his miAd, and hi
started up with a frantic air. Eyes r
it must be SO! ! see it ii feel the mad
dening truth, like scorching flames, upor
my brain! Eternal God support me
1t must be SO !--Yes. yes. that is to be
my fate! Yon roof will descend - these
walls will hem me round-and slowly,
slowly, crush me 10 their iron arms! Lord
God look down upon me, and in mercy
strike me with instant death! o fiend--
o DEVILS this your revenge?"
lie dashed himself upon the ground in
agony tears burst from him, and abe
sweat stood in large drops upon his face
-he sobbed aloud--he tore his hair
he rolled about like one suffering intoler.
able anguish Of body, aud would have
bitten the iron floor beneath him ho
brcathed fearful curses upon Toll, and