He
seemed to have no desire to escape, no energy, except to suffer. There
was no hope about it all, no suggestion of prayer, nothing but blank and
unadulterated suffering.
Amroth drew me back into the tower, and motioned me to the next
balcony. Again I went out. The sight that I saw was almost more terrible
than the first, because the prisoner here, penned in a similar
enclosure, was more restless, and seemed to suffer more acutely. This
was a younger man, who walked swiftly and vaguely about, casting glances
up at the wall which enclosed him. Sometimes he stopped, and seemed to
be pursuing some dreadful train of solitary thought; he gesticulated,
and even broke out into mutterings and cries--the cries that I had heard
from without. I could not bear to look at this sight, and coming back,
besought Amroth to lead me away. Amroth, who was himself, I perceived,
deeply moved, and stood with lips compressed, nodded in token of assent.
We went quickly down the stairway, and took our way up the hill among
the stones, in silence. The shapes of similar enclosures were to be seen
everywhere, and the indescribable blankness and grimness of the scene
struck a chill to my heart.
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