Chapter 14 Chapter Fourteen

Franz was horrified.What he was worried about before finally happened. He gradually lost his ability to think, his ability to understand things, and his ability to reason logically.The only feeling is the deep-seated longing for La Stella, that is, the memory of her singing that has long since disappeared. He became a plaything of hallucinations?Impossible, absolutely impossible!He did hear Lastella singing, and he did see her standing on top of the turret. Then he remembered that Lastira had gone mad.This was undoubtedly a heavy blow to him, and he lost her again. "Crazy!" he murmured, "yes!...crazy...she couldn't hear me...she didn't answer me...crazy...crazy!"

It seems that La Stella is really crazy! what!If only he could take her away from the castle, back to his own home in Craiova, and take care of her with all his heart.His concern and love will surely awaken her reason! Franz fell into a terrible frenzy, and hours passed without waking up from these words he muttered. He tried to calm down and sort out the mess. "I have to get out..." he thought, "how?... Wait for the door to open!... Yes!... While I was sleeping, someone came in to change food... I waited... I pretended to be asleep... " Suspicion flashed across his mind for a moment: sleeping pills must have been put in the water in the jug... He fell into such a deep sleep that he was completely unconscious, lost the time, and must have drunk the water in the jug... Hey!He won't drink...he won't even touch the food on the table...the people from the castle will be coming soon, soon...

soon? ……who knows? ... Is it noon or dusk? ...is it day or night? Franz listened carefully for the sound of footsteps outside the two doors... No, he was crawling under the wall... There was a fire in his head, and he was very uncomfortable. His eyes were blurred, his ears were buzzing, and his breathing was short of breath. , the room was very dull, only some fresh air came in through the crack of the door. Suddenly, from the side of a column on the right, a fresh breeze blew. Is there a hole in that place through which outside air can flow in? That's right...the shadow of the pillar obscures a passage.

He scrambled in at once, toward the dim patch of light that might have shot down from above. It was a small circular yard, about five or six steps wide, and about a hundred feet high, like the bottom of a well, used as a vent for the dungeon.A little light and air come from above. Franz was sure that it was still daylight, for a beam of light was falling obliquely on the well rail. The sun has at least halfway through the day, because the angle of the sun's rays is getting smaller and smaller. At this point around 5pm. It can be deduced from this that Franz slept for at least 40 hours, and he had no doubt that this was due to drinking water with sleeping pills.

The young count and Rodzko had left Welster on the 11th of June, and now it would be the 13th, and it was getting dark. The air in the well was very humid, and Franz took a few deep breaths, feeling better in his chest.But his previous plan to escape from this deep gabion seemed unrealistic.It is obviously not feasible to climb up the walls, but the walls are smooth and there are no protrusions to put your feet on. Franz returns to the dungeon.Since he could only escape through two doors, he had to study it carefully. The first door - through which he had come in - was solid and thick, and must be fastened from the outside: breaking through it and getting out was impossible.

The second door—her singing came from behind it—looks not very strong, and the boards are rotten in some places...it shouldn't be too difficult to break in from here. "Yes... this way... this way!..." Franz had already calmed down, thinking. You must hurry up, because people outside think that he has fallen asleep after drinking the medicine-filled water, and may come in at any time. Things were moving faster than he had expected, and the wood next to the iron latch was rotten.He cut a round hole with a dagger, being careful not to make any noise, and stopped from time to time to listen outside to see if there was any movement.

Three hours later, the deadbolt was pulled and the door creaked open. Franz went into the little patio again to get some fresh air. By this time the sun had disappeared from the mouth of the well, and probably the sun had already set over the Rediezato.The patio was shrouded in shadow.A few stars twinkle at the mouth of the oval well, as if seen through a long telescope.A cool breeze blew in the night sky, blowing away the clouds in the sky, and a half moon had risen from the mountains in the east. It's about 9 o'clock in the evening. Franz went back to eat and drink from the pool, and emptied the pitcher.He put the knife back in his belt, walked out the door, and closed the door carefully.

Maybe he might run into poor Lastella wandering the tunnels? ... His heart was beating wildly at the thought of this. He didn't take a few steps when he bumped into a step.As he had guessed before, there were stairs, and he counted them as he climbed them—only sixty, and the stairs he descended into the dungeon consisted of seventy-seven steps.Walk another 8 feet or so and you should be back on the ground. Best, he thought, to follow the dark corridor.So, with his hands on the wall, he groped his way forward. After walking for half an hour, there was neither a door nor a railing in front of me.Due to too many turns, he couldn't figure out which direction the city wall opposite the Algal Heights was.

He stopped to catch his breath and walked on again.This passage seemed endless. At this moment, he encountered something. It turned out to be a brick wall. He ran his hands up and down, but couldn't find any openings. There is no way here. Franz could not help sighing.His hopes were torn to pieces.His knees were weak, the soles of his feet were weak, and he fell against the wall. He found a narrow crack at the joint between the ground and the wall, the bricks were not tight, and the bricks moved as soon as he dug them with his hands... "Get out of here... yes!... from here!..." cried Franz in surprise.

He began to pull out the bricks one by one, when suddenly there was a sound from the other side of the wall. Franz stopped. The sound did not disappear, and a gleam of light came through the cracks in the bricks. Franz looked through the cracks in the bricks. Over there is the chapel of the old castle.Due to disrepair, it has been dilapidated: the vault is about to collapse, only a few curved columns are left to support the curved ceiling above, and two or three pointed arch windows are about to fall off; The panes of the windows were incomplete, and the Gothic lattices were here and there: an ancestor of some baronial family was buried under a piece of dusty marble; The front eaves of the hall cover the upper part of the semi-circular back hall to protect it from the strong wind.A bell hung from the top of the gate, and its ropes hung down to the ground, and the tinkling of the clock caused the silent dread of the village of Welster.

The chapel has been disused for many years, it has withstood the wind and rain in the Carpathians.At this time, a man came in with a lamp in his hand, and the light illuminated his face. Franz recognized the man immediately. He is Orvanic, the only companion of the baron when he lingers in various cities in Italy, that strange man who often walks in the street, dancing and talking to himself, an unreasonable scholar, a whimsical inventor, his Inventions must be in the eyes of Baron de Golz! Franz, who had still doubted the baron's presence in the castle when he saw Lastira's figure, was now convinced of it, because Olvanik was right in front of him. In the dead of night, what was he doing in this dilapidated church? Franz wanted to understand.He could see it clearly. Olvanik bent down and picked up some iron rods from the ground, and wrapped a thread on them, which was pulled from the spool in the corner of the church.He was so absorbed that he would not have noticed even if the count had come to him. Why!Why isn't the crack in the brick so big, he can drill through it!He could then have climbed into the church, lunged at the man, and forced him to lead the way to the tower... He should be glad that he can't do this, because if he fails, Baron Rudolf will kill him to prevent him from revealing the secrets of the castle! A few minutes after Olvanik came in, another person came. He was Baron Rudolf de Golz. That unforgettable face remained unchanged.The light illuminated a pale horse face from below, with long gray hair hanging down the back of the head, deep-set eye sockets, and shining eyes. Rudolph went up to see how Olvanik was doing. The following is a simple conversation between the two.