wnwards, and praying for Deliverance
or Death. I had a mind to dash my Brains out against the slimy walls of
the Cell, but was only stayed by the thought of my Lilias. 'Twas always
night in the abominable Hole, which was lighted only by a hole in the
roof, about four inches square, and which gave not into the open air,
but into a Corridor above. But on the fifteenth night of my Captivity,
for I judged it so by the utter darkness, the door of the Dungeon
opened, and the Blessed Old Man that was a Redemptorist Father appeared,
bearing a Lantern.

"You have that about you, my son," says he, "which should be a sign that
you are a trusted Agent of Holy Mother Church. Can you show it?"

I pointed with one of my fettered hands to my Breast, and made signs for
him to search for that he was in quest of. The which he did, and after
reverently kissing the Parchment I had between the Glasses, restored it
to me.

"You have been most basely entreated," he continued. "Monsieur Foscue
sent ample funds for your Ransom, and his Eminence is most anxious for
your safety; but the cruel Moorish Prince who governs this unhappy city,
after taking the money, feigned that you had made your Escape from the
Arsenal, designing to keep you here in Chains and Hunger until you
should Perish."

He paused for a moment, for his Great Age made him very feeble, and then
continued:

"I can deliver you from this Abode of Misery; but it is not in my power,
my son, to give you entire Deliverance. Would that I could! You have but
to follow me to the Quayside, where you will find a boat to convey you
on board a Turkish Merchant-ship, that to-morrow morning weighs anchor
for Constantinople. You will still be a Slave to the Captain, but to
your own ingenuity I leave it to obtain complete Freedom."

"And my Wife--my dear, dear Lilias?" I asked.

The Ancient Man shook his head.

"I can do nothing to bring you together again. She cannot follow you to
Stamboul; but by Perseverance, and in Time, you may be restored to her."

"Time!" I cried out in bitter desperation. "Time! O Father! I am growing
an old man. She is the stay and prop of my Life; she is the one ray of
sunshine cast on a Black and Wicked Career! And she is taken from me by
these Butchers! and I am to see her no more? What care I for Hunger and
Chains, and a Dungeon-floor for a Pallet? They have been familiar to me
from my earliest youth. If I am not to have my Lilias's sweet
companionship again