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transformation. The object was, of course, to
heighten, 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;
admit only a shadowy kind of gloom, rather than
light, that the wretched captive might be surrounded,
as it were, with every seeming preparation for
approaching death.
Vivenzio seated himself on his bier. Then he
knelt and prayed fervently; and sometimes tears
would gush from him. The air seemed thick, and
he breathed with difficulty ; or it might be that he
fancied it was so, from the hot and narrow limits
of his dungeon, which were now so diminished that
he could neither stand up nor lie down at his full
length. But his wasted spirits and oppressed mind
no longer struggled within him. He was past hope,
and fear shook him no more. Happy if thus revenge
had struck its final blow ; for he would have
fallen beneath it almost unconscious of a pang.
But such a lethargy of the soul, after such an
excitement of its fiercest passions, had entered into
the diabolical calculations of Tolfi ; and the full
artificer of his designs had imagined a counteracting
device.
The tolling of an enormous bell struck upon the
ears of Vivenzio! He started. It beat but once.
The sound was too close and stunning, it seemed
to shatter his very brain, while it echoed through
the rocky passages like reverberating peals of
thunder. This was followed by a sudden crash of
the roof and walls, as if they were about to fall
upon and close around him at once. Vivenzio
screamed, and instinctively spread forth his arms,
as though he had a giant’s strength to hold them
