TORMENT 221 



roots. With insane fury he hurled himself against 

 the iron frame : it was in vain. Again he had recourse 

 to the trap-door. He searched for it ; he found it. 

 He laid himself upon the ground. There was no 

 interval of space in which he could insert a finger's 

 point. He beat it with his clenched hand ; he tore 

 it with his teeth ; he jumped upon it ; he smote it 

 with his heel. The iron returned a sullen sound. 



" He again essayed the lid of the sarcophagus. 

 Despair nerved his strength. He raised the slab a 

 few inches. He shouted, screamed, but no answer 

 was returned ; and again the lid fell. 



" c She is dead ! ' cried Alan. ' Why have I not 

 shared her fate ? But mine is to come. And such a 

 death ! — oh, oh ! ' And, frenzied at the thought, he 

 again hurried to the door, and renewed his fruitless 

 attempts to escape, till nature gave way, and he sank 

 upon the floor, groaning and exhausted. 



" Physical suffering now began to take the place of 

 his mental tortures. Parched and consumed with a 

 fierce internal fever, he was tormented by unappeasable 

 thirst — of all human ills the most unendurable. His 

 tongue was dry and dusty, his throat inflamed ; his 

 lips had lost all moisture. He licked the humid floor ; 

 he sought to imbibe the nitrous drops from the walls ; 

 but, instead of allaying his thirst, they increased it. 

 He would have given the world, had he possessed it, 

 for a draught of cold spring-water. Oh, to have died 

 with his lips upon some bubbling fountain's marge ! 

 But to perish thus ! 



" Nor were the pangs of hunger wanting. He had 

 to endure all the horrors of famine as well as the 

 agonies of quenchless thirst. 



" In this dreadful state three days and nights 

 passed over Alan's fated head. Nor night nor day had 

 he. Time, with him, was only measured by its 

 duration, and that seemed interminable. Each hour 

 added to his suffering, and brought with it no relief. 

 During this period of prolonged misery reason often 

 tottered on her throne. Sometimes he was under the 



