Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1855-02-24

IS loh-but tarry; my presence will not agai
II disturb you here, even for that hand! Fare
e well Lucretia. | go, and ere to.morrow's SUI
d your adored Vivenzio will be united to brid
s whose embrace will be somewhat harder an,
g colder than the arms of her for whom he is suf
S fering"
K "Stay Count" said the distracted maiden ir
= utter despair, throwing herself on her knees
: before the stern man. Il yield! yield! save
VIVenzlo and claim thy ransomn'
j. "Come then, to my castle before sunrise OF
5 tomorrow and bring with thee holy father
when thy hand joins mine, Vvenzio shall be
free!"
; Il obey" murmured the fainting Countess,
sinking to the floor; Goods will be done"
In the splendid apartments Of his own cas-
tie, Count Tofi lay reclining upon his couch
the following morning, after having been long
engaged in writing, calmly waiting the denoue.
ment which ended Vivenzio's existence or yer.
rified the maiden's promise. The countenance
OF the Count was greatly changed, and raw
Of hope while anon gloomy sadness succeed.
ed each other. He had been writing his Will!
What new fancy how agitated this strange
mans breast!
Let US return TO the scene Of despair-to
| the cell of Vivenzio.
| When Vvenzio recovered the vision had
vanished. He was in the darkness He doubt.
ed whether it was not dream that had passed
before his sleepy fancy; but gradually his scat
tered thoughts returned, and with them came
remembrance. Yes, he had looked once again
upon the gorgeous splendor Of nature. Once
again his eyes had trembled beneath their lids
at the suns radiance, and sought repose in the
soft verdure of the olive tree, or the gentle
swell of undulating waves. Oh, that he were
a mariner, exposed upon those waves to the
worst fury of the storm and tempest; or very
wretch, loathsome with disease, plague strck-
en-; and his body one leprous contagion from
crown to sole. hunted forth to gush out the
| remnant of infectious life beneath those YER
dant trees, SO he might shun the destiny upon
whose edge he tottered. .s. :. -. ..
Vain thoughts like these would steal over
his mind ftom time to time, in spite Of himself;
but they scarcely moved it from that stupor
into which it had sunk, and which kept him,
for the whole night, like one drugged with
opium. He was equally insensible to the calls
of hunger and of thirst, though the third day
was now commencing since even drop of wa
ter had passed his lips. He remained on the
ground, sometimes standing, sometimes lying;
at intervals sleeping heavily, and when not
sleeping, silently brooding over what was to
come, and talking aloud, in disordered speech,
Of his wrongs, Of his loved Lucretia, Of his
doting parents and friends gr-
In this pitiabe condition, the sixth and last
morning dawned upon Vivenzo, if dawn it
might be called, the dim, obscure light which
family struggled through the one solitary win
dow of his dungeon. He could hardly be said
to notice the melancholy token. And yet he
did notice it; for, as he raised his eyes and saw
this portenteous sign, there was a slight con-
vnlsive distortion of his countenance. But
what did attract his notice, and at the sight of
which his agitation was excessive, was the
change his iron bed had undergone. 1t was
bed no longer. II stood before him the visible
semblance of a funeral couch or bier! When
he beheld this he started from the ground, and
in raising himself, suddenly struck his head
against the roof, which was now so low that
he could no longer stand upright. "God's will
be done" was all be said, as he crouched his
body, and placed his hands upon the bier; for
such it was. re- s1st ~. .s-,
The iron bedstead had been so contrived, by
the mechanical art of Ludovico Sorza, that as
the advancing walls came in contact with its
head and feet, pressure was produced upon
springs, which, when made to play,
set in motion a very simple though ingenionsiy
contrived machinery, that effected the transfer
nation. The object was, of course, to heightsn
in the closing scene Of this horrible drama, all
The feelings of despair and anguish which the
preceding ones had aroused. For the same
reason, the last window was so made as to ad-
nit only shadowy kind Of gloom rather than
light. that the wretched captive might be sur
rounded, as it were, with every seeming prepa-
'ation for approaching death. 80.
Vivenzio seated himself on his bier. Then
"a knolf oud provo1 forvontl,, II ooooox:.no.
ears would gush from him. The air seemed
hick, and he breathed with difficulty; or Il
night be that he fancied it was so, from the hot
md narrow limits of his dungeon, which were
Tow so diminished that he could neither stand
up nor lie down at his full length. But his
wasted spirits, and oppressed mind no longer
truggled within him. He was past hope, and
ear shook him no more. Happy If thus re-
enge had struck its final blow; for be would
ave fallen beneath it almost unconscious ofa
'ang But such a ethargy Of the soul, after
ucb an excitement Of its fercest passions, had
inferred into the diabolical calculations of Tolfi,
nd the fell artfcer of his designs bad imagin.
d counteracting device. aa@ ~e8 ems f.
The tolling of an enormous bell struck upon
he ears Of Vivenzio! He started. 1t beat but
nee. The sound was so close and stunning,
hat it seemed to shatter his very brain, while
echoed through the rocky passages like re-
erberatipg peals Of thunder. This was fol-
owed by sudden crash Of the roof and walls
s if they were about to fall upon and close
round him at once. Vivenzio screamed, and
spread forth his arms, as though
Q had giants strength to hold them back.
hey had moved nearer to him, and were now
Vivenzio looked up. and saw the
oof almost touching his head, even IS he sat s,
owering beneath it; and he felt that a further "a
ontraction Of but q few inches only must com. Il
renee the frightfnl operation. Reused % he
ad been, he now gasped for breath. His body zss
hook violently; be was bent nearly double. 3
liz hands rested upon either wall, aad his feet $50
,ere drawn under him to avoid the measure in