Page:The Mysterious Warning - Parsons (1796, volume 1).djvu/263

 suppress audible proofs of his sensibility.—"O!" cried the wretched man, "how piercing, how inexpressibly sweet, to the heart, is the voice of compassion! Heaven only knows how you obtained entrance here; but should that cruel monster discover you?"

"Fear not," said Ferdinand, hastily, "he is no more; death has stopped his career of wickedness at last."

The man was about to reply, when Francis entered with the key, for so strongly was his mind impressed with terror, that, though he dared not stay in the vault, he was almost equally afraid to go back, and return alone. Much quicker than he had attempted to move for many years did he exert himself on his errand, and heartily rejoiced to find he was once more safe by the side of Ferdinand, who eagerly snatching the key unlocked the other iron door, and entered a dungeon still more frightful, with only a few rays of light that served not even to distinguish objects, and proceeded from a small iron grating at