In the meantime, the discomfort was not extreme to lie gagged and bound on a garret-floor for some few hours was, after all, a situation which a philosopher might patiently endure, and to an artist it might well be suggestive of hints.

Breathing, to be sure, was not easy, but became more so by degrees.
But with the complete recollection of his faculties came back the thought of what was involved in the question of release before the following day.

Early in the morning he had to be at the door of Tothill Fields' Prison.

How if his release were delayed, through Slimy's neglect or that of the agent he might employ?
As the first hour passed slowly by, this became the chief anxiety in Waymark's mind.

It made him forgetful of the aching in his arms, caused by the bind ing together of his hands behind him, and left no room for anticipation of the other sufferings which would result from his being left thus for an indefinite period.