Free! --I had but escaped death in one form of
agony, to be delivered unto worse than death in some other. With
that thought I rolled my eves nervously around on the barriers of iron
that hemmed me in. Something unusual --some change which, at first,
I could not appreciate distinctly --it was obvious, had taken place in
the apartment. For many minutes of a dreamy and trembling abstraction,
I busied myself in vain, unconnected conjecture. During this period, I
became aware, for the first time, of the origin of the sulphurous
light which illumined the cell. It proceeded from a fissure, about
half an inch in width, extending entirely around the prison at the
base of the walls, which thus appeared, and were, completely separated
from the floor. I endeavored, but of course in vain, to look through
the aperture.
As I arose from the attempt, the mystery of the alteration in the
chamber broke at once upon my understanding. I have observed that,
although the outlines of the figures upon the walls were
sufficiently distinct, yet the colors seemed blurred and indefinite.
These colors had now assumed, and were momentarily assuming, a
startling and most intense brilliancy, that gave to the spectral and
fiendish portraitures an aspect that might have thrilled even firmer
nerves than my own.
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