, 1886-08-19
THE TURRET DOOR.

course OF my Wander1ngB ABOUT the an
cient city I entered the quiet and solitary
close of the gray cathedral. Thu rocks
were gathering in the old elms which
stood around. A ruddy light wrapped tho
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 l walked slowly across
the close toward the low wide steps which
Ascended and were lost In the shadow OF
the noble porch.
On reaching the great door of the cathe-
dral I found 1t closed. But In the cente r
Of this there was another smaller door
which still stood open-and here a party
Of visitors, to whom l was q stranger,
were e~ndeavoring to persuade the ancient
verger that the hour was not yet too late
to permit them to inspect the interior. 1t
20 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 I among
them
The party of visitors to which l had
Joined myself had completed, under the
guidance of the verger, the customary
tour of inspection round the ancient
fabric. and were now preparing to leave
WIZ cumming. 4 hha ~ " a OtlCh
behind the rest. In order to examine a fine
and deeply interesting specimen of an
tique carving which covered the whole Of
the wall near which l stood. The great
COR of the cathedral, where the rest of
the party were now standing. Wal not WIS.,
lble from this spot; but l could hear their
voices plainly, round the angle of the wall.
Aware that i had not much time to linger
unless l wished to be locked up all night,
l cast a last glance at the rich tracery Of
the woodwork and prepared reluctantly
to turn away.
Suddenly my eye was caught by a por-
ton Of the carving which seemed to stand
out slightly from the rest. / put my hand
upon the carved head Of the Apostle Pc ter
and pulled 1t outward. To my amaze
ment a door opened In the carving. show
Ing beyond it a dark passage. stopped
for ward and o)ked in. As l did so the
door, which was thick and massive, and
which was hung s~lantingly upon its
hinges In such q manner as to close with
Its own weight, swung heavily back from
the position into which 1 had pushed it,
and coming unexpectedly upon me as 1
stopped forward, projected me into the
opening and shut behind me.
The suddenness of the incident and the
total darkness In which l found myself
entombed startled and confused me. But
at first / felt no positive alarm. / at
tempted at once to push open the door,
but 10 my surprise 1t did not yield. l
pushed har~der-harder yeti exerted all
strength, but the door remained i'm
movable.
AT last, finding all my efforts useless,
l e~ndeavored to attract the attention of
those outside. i raised my voice and
called loudly for assistance at the same
time beating a 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 10 response.
With a vague terror at heart l renewed
my ~endeavors. l raised a clamor that
awoke the echoes Of the building. But
still no voice replied from outside my
prison, no hand released the fastening of
the door. Gradually the con viction forced
itself upon my mind hat l had delayed
too long. While l had been trying to 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 l had left before
them. The verger had locked up the
aAt atBe4 ttts h9h9 o. III OuC
within hearing to nssist me.
My CONSERVATION at this discovery may
be conceived. The idea that l was fated
to pass the night in this dark and narrow
prison was one which l refused TO enter
tain. Again, again, and yet again l hurled
myself against the wooden barrier, with
rage, with fury, with despair. Not until l
had exhausted every effort in my power,
not until every CLEAN of hope had van
ished from my mind, did l give up
the attempt to force the door as hopeless,
and turned away from it to 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 discomfor TT, until / might expect as
sistance from without.
In my assaults upon the door / had al
ready discovered that the place in which 1
was inclosed was Of small dimensions. 1t
was, in fact, little more han a recess or
deep niche in the masonry, not exceed
ing three feet square, 1t would
neither enable me to lie at full length nor
to 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
l too 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, l made a discovery
which filed me at first with surprise, and
afterward with extreme p~erplexity.
Between the roof and the wall there was
a space OF at least four inches. Through
this space became aware OF a faint CLEAN
OF light very far above my head. With
the object OF ascertaining the length of this
aperture l moved along the wall, keeping
my eye upon the crevice. The light did
not vanish. / 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 a single point Of the circuit.
Presently "A 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 a deep, solemn and sonorous bell.
But instead of reaching my prison. as
might nave been expected, In duh, far. of
and muffied tones, they fell upon my ears
with thrilling clearness and distinctness,
as II 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 a long time in refec 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 Def fore o or 10. l had, therefore,
some fifteen hour at least before me to
get through as best | might.
How slowly the time wanedl At seem
ingly long intervals the bells struck the
quarters: one, two, three, four; and then
In deeper tones the hour ITSELF. And
now, when the ringing sound Of the last
note had died away, the bells of the car
nlon began TO chime. The notes fell on
my ears with the same singular and un.
accountable distinctness which | had oh