I returned to the door of the cell, and now through it heard choking sounds.

Quickly I shot the bolts and unlocked it with my master-key.

This was what I saw within: To a bar of the window-place was fastened such a rope as monks wear for a girdle; at the end of the rope was a noose, and in that noose the head of Nicephorus.

There he hung, struggling.

His hands had gripped the rope above his head, for though he had sought Death, at the last he tried to escape him.