UNDER THE GROUND Day and night were the same to the occupant of the little room.

They passed with equal slowness and impartial darkness.

Five days that he could account for crawled by before anything unusual happened to break the strain of his solitary, inexplicable confinement.

He could tell when it was morning by the visit of a bewhiskered chambermaid with a deep bass voice, who carried a lighted candle and kicked him into wakefulness.

The second day after his incarceration began, he was given food and drink.