What was to be the end? Was this it?
Around such questions as these did my thoughts move, as if in a circle; ever asking the same questions, and ever without reply; until I felt that there was no more than the breadth of a thread between me and madness.
After a great while—how long I wist not, and perchance it was no such great while as it seemed to me in that wild fever of my spirit—the door of the room in which I lay huddled upon the floor was opened. I verily believe that it was the mere opening of the door at that very moment that kept me from becoming a maniac, so strained were those fine chords which subtly hold mind and body as if in a balance.
The bandage was untied from about my eyes, and the gag was taken from my mouth; the ropes were partly unloosened from my arms, and food and water were placed beside me.
Two men were in the room, both bearing drawn swords, and one carrying a lantern, for it was night, and but for its light we had been in total darkness. Yet so sore were my eyes that I could scarcely bear to look at the men, and when I essayed to speak I could not utter a word so swollen was my tongue.
“Eat and drink,” said one of them; but I could do no more than roll my head helplessly from side to side.
Then the other, seeing how foredone I was, put the pitcher to my lips, and I drank, although each mouthful I swallowed of the water was a fresh torment. But with the blessed water there came relief, nay, life itself, for the frenzy died out of my brain, and my mind became calm and clear. Thereafter I ate, and essayed to speak with the two men, but they had evidently been forbidden to converse with me, for they would answer nothing. After a short time they withdrew, bolting and barring the door behind them, and I was left to myself.
Hours dragged slowly by, and, at length, the sleep of exhaustion fell upon me, and when I awoke it was broad daylight. The repose had restored me in a great measure to myself; but the stinging of the cuts made by the bonds on my legs and arms, and the dull throbbing, throbbing of my head, quickly recalled me to the misery of my situation.
In the morning, however, I was released from the ropes, and more food and water were brought me. Again I endeavoured to get the men, who I perceived were the same that had come to me the previous evening, to speak to me, but in vain.