On the second day I took the bread and water allotted me, and ate and drank; after which I scaled the narrow staircase, and gazed through the thin barred loophole at the bright blue sky above, sometimes catching the shadow of a bird as it flew past.

Oh, how I yearned for freedom then! Oh, how I wished to break through the stone walls that held me fast! Oh, what a weight of despair crushed my heart as I crept back to my narrow bed! The cell seemed like a grave, and indeed it was little better.

Horrible thoughts possessed me.

What if I should be wilfully forgotten?
What if no food should be given me, and I should be left to perish by the slow pangs of hunger?
At this idea I shrieked aloud, but the walls alone returned a dull echo to my cries.

I beat my hands against the stones, till the blood flowed from them, but no answer was returned; and at last I desisted from sheer exhaustion.