My thoughts reverted to the contemplation of the hazards and suspicions which flowed from my continuance in this spot.
In the midst of my perturbed musing, my attention was again recalled by an illumination like the former.

Instead of hovering and vanishing, it was permanent.

No ray could be more feeble; but the tangible obscurity to which it succeeded rendered it conspicuous as an electrical flash.
For a while I eyed it without moving from my place, and in momentary expectation of its disappearance.
Remarking its stability, the propriety of scrutinizing it more nearly, and of ascertaining the source whence it flowed, was at length suggested.

Hope, as well as curiosity, was the parent of my conduct.
Though utterly at a loss to assign the cause of this appearance, I was willing to believe some connection between that cause and the means of my deliverance.
I had scarcely formed the resolution of descending the stair, when my hope was extinguished by the recollection that the cellar had narrow and grated windows, through which light from the street might possibly have found access.

A second recollection supplanted this belief, for in my way to this staircase my attention would have been solicited, and my steps, in some degree, been guided, by light coming through these avenues.
Having returned to the bottom of the stair, I perceived every part of the long-drawn passage illuminated.