Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-08-22
THE TURRET DOOR.

were gathering in the old elms which
stood around A ruddy light wrapped the
great gray towers which rose far up into
the evening air. The sounds of the city
from without came family and at inter
walls TO the ear AS | walked slowly across
the close toward the low wide steps which
assembled and were lost in the shadow Of
the noble porch.
On reaching the great door Of the cathe-
drA found it closed. But in the cenue r
Of this there was another smaller door
which still stood open and here a party
Of visitors, 10 whom was a stranger,
were endeavoring to persuade the ancient
verger that the hour was not yet too late
TO permit them to inspect the interior. It.
90 happened that just as came up they
succeeded in overcoming his hesitation,
and he turned TO lead the way into the
building.
The party followed him, and among
them
The party of visitors TO which had
Joined myself had completed. under the
guidance Of the vergeT, the customary
tour of inspection round the ancient
fabric. and were now preparing To leave
the building | had fallen for moment
behind the rest, in order to examine tine
and deeply interesting Specimen Of an
tique carving which covered the whole of
the wall near which | stood The great
door Of the cathedral. where the rest of
the party were now standing. was not Wis
ible from this spot; but l could hear their
voices plainly, round the angle of the wall
Aware that had not much time to linger
unless wishes 10 De lock ed up all night,
j cast a last glance at the rich tracery of
the woodwork and prepared reluctantly
TO turn away.
Suddenly my eye was caught by por-
tion Of the carving which seemed IA stand
out slightly from the rest. put my hand
upon the carved head of the Apostle Peter
and pulled it outward To my amaze
ment door opened in the carving, show
ing beyond il a dark passage. | stopped
forward and o lked in. As did so the
door. which was thick and massive, and
which was hung slantingly upon its
hinges in such a manner as to close with
its own weight. swung heavily back ( ON
the position into which l had pushed it,
and coming Unexpectedly upon me as
stopped forward, projected me into the
opening and shut behind me-
The suddenness of the incident and the
total darkness in which / found myself
entombed startled and confused me. But
al first i felt no positive alarm ! at
tempted at once to push open the door,
but TO my surprise it did not yield |
pushed harder-hRrder yeti eXerted all
my strength, but the door remained i'm
movable.
At last, finding sll my efforts useless,
/ endeavOred to attract the attention of
those outside. / raised my voice and
called loudly for assistance at the same
time beating vigorous tattoo with my
stick against the door. l then paused and
listened, in the expectation of being
speedily released. But to my surprise
and alarm the minutes passed and there
was no response.
With a vague terror at heart ] renewed
my endeavors. | raised a clamor that
awoke the echoes of the building But
still no voice replied from outside nv
prison, no hand released the fastening of
the door. Gradually the conviction forced
itself upon my mind that had delayed
too long. While had been trying 10 force
open the door by my own efforts, the
party OF visitors had left the cathedral,
either without observing my absence, or
perhaps supposing that | had left before
them. The verger had locked up the
building and departed. There was no one
within hearing to assist me.
My CONSERVATION at this discovery may
be conceived. The idea that was fated
to pass the night in this dark and narrow
prison was one which / refused to enter
tain. Again, again, and yet again hurled
myself against the wooden barrier, with
rage, with fury, with despair. Not until
had exhausted every effort in my power,
not until every CLEAN of hope had van
ished from my mind, did l give up
he at tn ba1
and turned away from it 10 examine more
narrowly the place Of my Imprisonment
Nothing now seemed left to me but to as
certain how l might pass the hours with
least discomfort, until l might expect as
sistance from without.
In my assaults upon the door had al
ready discovered that the place in which
was lnclOsed was of small dimensions. 1t
was, in fact, little more than a recess or
deep niche in the masonry, not exceed
ing three feet square, il would
neither enable me to lie at full length nor
10 obtain any other relief for my tired
limbs than by the change Of one cramped
and uneasy posture for another. The
floor was of solid pavement. The roof, as
j stood erect, just touched my head The
walls, like the floor were of solid stone
Standing close to one of these, and cast
ing my eyes upward, | made a discovery
which filled ME at first with surprise, and
afterward with extreme perplexity.
Between the roof and the wall there was
a space of at least four inches. Through
this space became aware Of a faint gleam
Of light very far above my head. With
the object Of asceTtaining the length of this
aperture | moved along the wall keeping
my eye upon the crevice. The light did
not vanish. l turned the angle of the
wall and still the light remained visible /
traverSed in succession the -four walls of
the cell, no obstacle obscured the feeble
CLEAN. the roof did not touch the wall
at Il single point of the circuit
Presently loud and startling sound,
seeming TO issue from the roof above my
head, burst suddenly upon the silence 1t
was the great clock of the cathedral
striking the hour. The notes fell slowly
from deep, solemn and sonorous bell
But instead of reaching my prison, as
might have been expected, in duh, far. off
and muffied tones, they fell upon my ears
with thrilling clearness and distinctness,
as if they were close at hand 1t was evi-
dent, in fact, that my cell must be situated
directly under the clock tower. This con-
clusiOn, however, led me no further at the
moment.
sat for long time in refiec ton upon
the number of hours which must elapSe
before could expect to be set free The
bell had struck the hour of six The ca
thedral would probably not be open in the
morning before or 10. / had, therefore,
some fifteen hours at least before me to
get through as best might
How slowly the time waned! At seem
ingly long intervals the bells struck the
quarters: one, two three, four: and then