May the guilty one not escape his deserved punishment! His punishment!" Moved by my sobs, my listeners there and then expressed their zeal and readiness to work for my liberation, and thus at least partly redeem the injustice heaped upon me.

I apologised and returned to my cell.
Evidently my old organism cannot bear such agitation any longer; besides, it is hard even for a strong man to picture in his imagination certain images without risking the loss of his reason.

Only in this way can I explain the strange hallucination which appeared before my fatigued eyes in the solitude of my cell.

As though benumbed I gazed aimlessly at the tightly closed door, when suddenly it seemed to me that some one was standing behind me.

I had felt this deceptive sensation before, so I did not turn around for some time.