Ferdinand listened to this narrative in silent wonder! wonder not
occasioned by the adventure described, but by the hardihood and
rashness of the marquis, who had thus exposed to the inspection of his
people, that dreadful spot which he knew from experience to be the
haunt of an injured spirit; a spot which he had hitherto scrupulously
concealed from human eye, and human curiosity; and which, for so many
years, he had not dared even himself to enter. Peter went on, but was
presently interrupted by a hollow moan, which seemed to come from
beneath the ground. 'Blessed virgin!' exclaimed he: Ferdinand listened
in awful expectation.
A groan longer and more dreadful was repeated,
when Peter started from his seat, and snatching up the lamp, rushed
out of the dungeon. Ferdinand, who was left in total darkness,
followed to the door, which the affrighted Peter had not stopped to
fasten, but which had closed, and seemed held by a lock that could be
opened only on the outside. The sensations of Ferdinand, thus
compelled to remain in the dungeon, are not to be imagined. The
horrors of the night, whatever they were to be, he was to endure
alone. By degrees, however, he seemed to acquire the valour of
despair. The sounds were repeated, at intervals, for near an hour,
when silence returned, and remained undisturbed during the rest of the
night. Ferdinand was alarmed by no appearance, and at length, overcome
with anxiety and watching, he sunk to repose.
On the following morning Peter returned to the dungeon, scarcely
knowing what to expect, yet expecting something very strange, perhaps
the murder, perhaps the supernatural disappearance of his young lord.
Full of these wild apprehensions, he dared not venture thither alone,
but persuaded some of the servants, to whom he had communicated his
terrors, to accompany him to the door. As they passed along he
recollected, that in the terror of the preceding night he had forgot
to fasten the door, and he now feared that his prisoner had made his
escape without a miracle. He hurried to the door; and his surprize was
extreme to find it fastened. It instantly struck him that this was the
work of a supernatural power, when on calling aloud, he was answered
by a voice from within. His absurd fear did not suffer him to
recognize the voice of Ferdinand, neither did he suppose that
Ferdinand had failed to escape, he, therefore, attributed the voice to
the being he had heard on the preceding night; and starting back from
the door, fled with his companions to the great hall. There the uproar
occasioned by their entrance called together a number of persons,
amongst whom was the marquis, who was soon informed of the cause of
alarm, with a long history of the circumstances of the foregoing
night.