Volume II Part 67 (2/2)
I uttered these words in a kind of transport
”Forgive me, for ain”
It is possible that I should not have strangled him, but I was very h to sleep soundly, all the while he sleeps is no longer a captive, and feels no ht to look upon the wretch akens hiuard who deprives him of his liberty, and , he feels all his for prisoner often drea of hunger sees hiratulated reat work before he came, especially as he required that the room should be swept out
The first tih by saying that it would killto be ill, but from interested motives I made no further opposition
On the Wednesday in Holy Week Lawrence told us that the secretary wouldto give peace to them that would receive the sacra to say against the gaoler ”So, gentlemen,”
said Lawrence, ”if you have any complaints to make of me make them
Dress yourselves fully, as is custoet me a confessor for the day
I put myself into full dress, and the Jew followedleave of me in advance, so sure was he that the secretary would set hi what he had to say ”My presentiment,” said he, ”is of the same kind as I have had before, and I have never been deceived”
”I congratulate you, but don't reckon without your host” He did not understand what I meant
In course of time the secretary came, and as soon as the cell-door was opened the Jew ran out and threw himself at his feet on both knees, I heard for fivebut his tears and complaints, for the secretary said not one word He caht ust, I must have presented a soust I shi+vered with cold, and was afraid that the secretary would think I was treed to bend low to coany unseasonable hardihood, and waited for him to speak The secretary also kept silence, so that we stood facing each other like a pair of statues At the end of two ave ht bow, and went away I re-entered et war spoken to the secretary, although my silence had cried more loudly than his cowardly complaints A prisoner of e, except to answer questions
On Maundy Thursday a Jesuit came to confess me, and on Holy Saturday a priest of St Mark's came to ad rather too laconic to the sweet son of Ignatius he thought good to re me his absolution
”Do you pray to God?” he said
”Fro unto the , for, placed as I as of my mind--can be but a prayer in the eyes of the Divine Wisdohtly and replied by a discourse rather metaphysical than moral, which did not at all tally with my views I should have confuted him on every point if he had not astonished me by a prophecy he made ”Since it is froion, practise it in our fashi+on, pray like us, and know that you will only come out of this place on the day of the saint whose naave est possible impression on my mind I did my best, but I could not rid myself of it I proceeded to pass in review all the saints in the calendar
The Jesuit was the director of M Flaminio Corner, an old senator, and then a State Inquisitor This stateshly religious, and author of several pious and ascetic works written in Latin His reputation was spotless
On being informed that I should be set free on the feast-day of ht to know for certain what he told lad to have a patron-saint ”But which is it?”
I asked myself ”It cannot be St James of Compostella, whose name I bear, for it was on the feast-day of that saint that Messer-Grande burst openfor the saints' days nearest at hand I found St George--a saint of soht I then devoted myself to St Mark, whose feast fell on the twenty-fifth of the ht justly claim To him, then, I addressed my vows, but all in vain, for his feast came round and still I was in prison Then I took myself to St James, the brother of Christ, who co I tried St Anthony, who, if the tale told at Padua be true, worked thirteen miracles a day He worked none for ot to hope in the protection of the saints just as one hopes for anything one desires, but does not expect to co only in th of my arms Nevertheless the promise of the Jesuit came to pass, since I escaped from The Leads on All Hallows Day; and it is certain that if I had a patron-saint, he must be looked for in their nuht after Easter I was delivered fromsent back to his ho his freedom he went and set up in Trieste, where he ended his days
No sooner was I again alone than I set zealously about my work I had to make haste for fear of soht insist on the cell being swept I began by drawing backmy lamp I lay down on my belly, ather the fragments of board as I scooped the into it the point of er than grains of wheat, but they soon increased in size
The board was an to pierce it at its juncture with another board, and as there were no nails or clamps my as simple After six hours' toil I tied up the napkin, and put it on one side to earret The frager in bulk than the hole from whence they ca the napkin the next h the first board, which I found to be two inches thick, I was stopped by a second which I judged to be as thick as the first Tormented by the fear of new visitors I redoubled my efforts, and in three weeks I had pierced the three boards of which the floor was coht that all was lost, for I found I had to pierce a bed of small pieces of marble known at Venice as terrazzo marmorin This forms the usual floor of venetian houses of all kinds, except the cottages, for even the high nobility prefer the terrazzo to the finest boarded floor I was thunderstruck to find that my bar made no impression on this coed and cast down I re to Livy, opened up a passage through the Alps by breaking the rocks with axes and other instruht that Hannibal had succeeded not by aceto, but aceta, which in the Latin of Padua uarantee the text to be free from the blunders of the copyist?
All the saar I had by ar or because I, refreshed and rested, put th and patience into the work, I saw that I should overcome this new difficulty; for I had not to break the pieces of marble, but only to pulverize with the end of ether I soon perceived that the greatest difficulty was on the surface, and in four days the wholeat all daed
Below the pavement I found another plank, but I had expected as much I concluded that this would be the last; that is the first to be put dohen the roo ceiled I pierced it with so ten inches deep, it had become troublesome to work the pike A thousand times I commended myself to theis no good do not knohat they are talking about; for I know by experience that, having prayed to God, I always felt er, which fact amply proves the usefulness of prayer, whether the renewal of strength coht from God, or whether it comes only from the trust one has in Him
On the 25th of June, on which day the Republic celebrates the wonderful appearance of St Mark under the fored lion in the ducal church, about three o'clock in the afternoon, as I was labouring on my belly at the hole, stark naked, covered with sweat, my lamp beside me I heard with mortal fear the shriek of a bolt and the noise of the door of the first passage It was a fearfuls it contained, and as swift as lightning I replaced my bed as best I could, and threw myself on it just as the door of my cell opened If Lawrence had cohtout dolefully I stopped hi,