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the seven had originally looked; that is, occupying,
at irregular distances, the top of the
wall on that side of the dungeon. The tall
folding door, too, still seemed to stand beneath
in the centre of these four, as it had at first
stood in the centre of the seven. But he
could no longer doubt, what, on the preceeding
day, he fancied might be the effect of
visual deception. The dungeon was smaller.
The roof had lowered—and the opposite ends
had contracted the intermediate distance by a
space equal, he thought, to that over which
three windows had extented. He was bewildered
in vain imaginings to account for these
things. Some frightful purpose—some devilish
torture of mind or body—some unheard-of
device far producing exquisite misery, lurked,
he was sure, in what had taken place.
Oppressed with this belief, and distracted
more by the dreadful uncertainty of whatever
fate impended, than he could be dismayed he
thought, by the knowledge of the worst, he
sat ruminating, hour after hour, yielding his
fears in succession to every haggard fancy.
At last a horrible suspicion flashed across his
mind, and he started up with a frantic air.
“ Yes! ” he exclaimed, looking wildly round
his dungeon, and shuddering as he spoke—
“ Yes! it must be so! I see it!—I feel the
maddening truth like scorching flames upon
my brain! Eternal God!—support me! It
must be (illegible text)
