seeking deliverance... and began

shouting at the top of his voice: "Help! To me! Help!"

But he felt his voice choking in his breast, and he knew that however many cries he sent up, they would never pierce the massive walls that shut him off from the world...

He took up the armor and hurled it at the door, hoping someone

would hear the sound of the blow, and he repeated his shouting, but to no avail.

Was he doomed to die of hunger or of suffocation in this place that was like a well, entered by nothing but rats and insects?

His strength failed him, his thoughts grew confused, his head swam, and he threw himself down upon the floor.

Night had drawn its curtain over the château, and Rabastens slept a deep sleep.

He woke early, and returned to thinking about his condition, and about some means of escaping his predicament.

Now he grasped the truth!

This woman — rather, this lifeless corpse — was Lucie de Bracontal, whom her family had