Sentence:  By and by fumes of brandy began to fill the air, and climb to where I lay, overcoming the mouldy smell of decayed wood and the dampness of the green walls. It may have been that these fumes mounted to my head, and gave me courage not my own, but so it was that I lost something of the stifling fear that had <WSD>gripped</WSD> me, and could listen with more ease to what was going forward 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To help or assist, particularly in an emotional sense.