the window, and yet to have an over-powering wish or impulse to do so. The
lowest sound startled him--but with this terrible irritation, his muscular
power, before debilitated, seemed to revive, and his action, which was
drooping and languid, became quick and angular. I began to be seized with
an undefined sense of fear and alarm. In vain I combated it; it grew upon
me; and I had almost risen from my seat to try to make myself heard, and
obtain, if possible, assistance. The loneliness of the gaol, however,
rendered this, even, if attempted, almost desperate--the sense of duty,
the dread of ridicule, came across me, and chained me to my seat by the
miserable criminal, whose state was becoming every minute more dreadful
and extraordinary.

* * * * *

Exhausted by the wearing excitement and anxiety of my situation, I had for
a moment sunk into that confused absence of mind with which those who have
been in similar circumstances cannot be unacquainted, when my miserable
companion, with a convulsive shudder, grasped my arm suddenly. I was for a
few seconds unaware of the cause of this emotion and movement, when a low,
indistinct sound caught my ear. It was the rumbling of a cart, mingled
with two or three suppressed voices; and the cart appeared to be leaving
the gate of the dismal building in which we were. It rolled slowly and
heavily as if cumbrously laden, under the paved gateway; and after a few
minutes, all was silent. The agonized wretch understood its import better
than I did. A gust of the wildest despair came suddenly over him. He
clutched with his hands whatever met his grasp. His knees worked. His
frame became agitated with one continued movement, swaying backwards and
forwards, almost to falling;--and his inarticulate complaints became
terrific. I attempted to steady him by an exertion of strength--I spoke
kindly to him, but he writhed in my grasp like an adder, and as an adder