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1874.] for he had some people to meet at dinner—myself in my garden-cap, and a guide with a torch, committed ourselves to the exploration. We had hurriedly got over the examination of the palace for the sake of these famous sub-constructions. 'Tis there, they say, in the Middle Ages sat the terrible Vigilance Committee called Vehmic, formerly the terror of Europe, and more recently the cause of many a melodrama and opera.

We descended innumerable steps, formed of slabs of rock scarcely connected together, and worn by the steps of ages. Tottering or sliding under our feet, they threatened death for the least false balance. Relieved of this peril, we passed through ten vaults, each more sepulchral than the other.

A door, made of a single stone, presented itself. After long efforts the stiff portal opened—not by means of a key, but of powerful levers which we ourselves helped to move.

We were in the grand chamber of the Secret Tribunal. The form of the seats from which the judges spoke was still visible on some of the stones that rose out of the ground. After a silent examination, followed by a procession through numerous corridors, we were suddenly ushered into a large hall, more forbidding than all the rest. Bolts of iron, chains and rusty clamps adorned the blackened and slimy walls. "This is the inquisition-chamber," said the guide solemnly, moving his torch along the stones still spotted with blood: "here the victims, placed on the rack, were tortured with the pincers, their foreheads

compressed by a constantly narrowing band of iron, and their feet set on a furnace."

I fairly choked in such an atmosphere, and at the presence of these visible, palpable irons rusted with blood, a cold perspiration stood out on my forehead. I looked at Sylvester. Smiling, white-cravatted, he was kissing the pommel of his cane.

"You are good-natured," he said, "to devote so much valuable emotion to such a small affair."

"A small affair!" repeated I, pointing to the tortures.

"In former times," he answered with the most perfect self-possession, "when enemies invaded the country, these big cellars were used to fold the sheep and oxen, as well as those less valuable beasts of burden, the women. You see the chains and fastenings for the cows. Up