Oh, the unutterable horror that sweeps over him! To die thus: fettered, blinded, powerless to cry for aid! A frenzied madness courses through his veins.
Crackle, hiss, roar!
The flames rise and spread. The door of the closet has fallen in, and now he feels their hot breath. They are closing around him; he is suffocating. He tugs at his fetters with the strength of despair. All is in vain.
Hiss! hiss! hiss!
His brain reels. He is falling, falling, falling. There is a horrible sound in his ears; his eyes see hideous visions; his breath is strangled; he shudders convulsively, and resigns his hold upon life!
CHAPTER XXXII.
“A BRAND FROM THE BURNING.”
There is a cry of alarm in the street below. The fire has broken through the roof, and so revealed itself to some late passer-by.
“Fire! fire! fire!”