- end_line
- 3120
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:05.590Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 3069
- text
- raved in the darkness. The delirious sense of the absence of light was
soon added to his other delirium as to the contraction of space. The
lids of his eyes burst with impotent distension. Then he thought the
air itself was getting unbearable. He stood up at the griffin slits,
pressing his lips far into them till he moulded his lips there, to suck
the utmost of the open air possible.
And continually, to heighten his frenzy, there recurred to him again
and again what the Squire had told him as to the origin of the cell. It
seemed that this part of the old house, or rather this wall of it, was
extremely ancient, dating far beyond the era of Elizabeth, having once
formed portion of a religious retreat belonging to the Templars. The
domestic discipline of this order was rigid and merciless in the
extreme. In a side wall of their second storey chapel, horizontal and
on a level with the floor, they had an internal vacancy left, exactly
of the shape and average size of a coffin. In this place, from time to
time, inmates convicted of contumacy were confined; but, strange to
say, not till they were penitent. A small hole, of the girth of one’s
wrist, sunk like a telescope three feet through the masonry into the
cell, served at once for ventilation, and to push through food to the
prisoner. This hole opening into the chapel also enabled the poor
solitaire, as intended, to overhear the religious services at the
altar; and, without being present, take part in the same. It was deemed
a good sign of the state of the sufferer’s soul, if from the gloomy
recesses of the wall was heard the agonized groan of his dismal
response. This was regarded in the light of a penitent wail from the
dead, because the customs of the order ordained that when any inmate
should be first incarcerated in the wall, he should be committed to it
in the presence of all the brethren, the chief reading the burial
service as the live body was sepulchred. Sometimes several weeks
elapsed ere the disentombment, the penitent being then usually found
numb and congealed in all his extremities, like one newly stricken with
paralysis.
This coffin-cell of the Templars had been suffered to remain in the
demolition of the general edifice, to make way for the erection of the
new, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. It was enlarged somewhat, and
altered, and additionally ventilated, to adapt it for a place of
concealment in times of civil dissension.
With this history ringing in his solitary brain, it may readily be
conceived what Israel’s feelings must have been. Here, in this very
darkness, centuries ago, hearts, human as his, had mildewed in despair;
limbs, robust as his own, had stiffened in immovable torpor.
At length, after what seemed all the prophetic days and years of
Daniel, morning broke. The benevolent light entered the cell, soothing
his frenzy, as if it had been some smiling human face—nay, the Squire
himself, come at last to redeem him from thrall. Soon his dumb ravings
entirely left him, and gradually, with a sane, calm mind, he revolved
all the circumstances of his condition.
- title
- Chunk 6