The last thing that the guide showed us was a trapdoor, or opening,
beneath a crazy old floor. Looking down into this aperture we saw three
stone steps, which we should have taken to be the beginning of a flight
of stairs that descended into a dungeon, or series of dungeons, such as
we had already seen. But inspecting them more closely, we saw that the
third step terminated the flight, and beyond was a dark vacancy. Three
steps a person would grope down, planting his uncertain foot on a dimly
seen stone; the fourth step would be in the empty air. The guide told us
that it used to be the practice to bring prisoners hither, under pretence
of committing them to a dungeon, and make them go down the three steps
and that fourth fatal one, and they would never more be heard of; but at
the bottom of the pit there would be a dead body, and in due time a
mouldy skeleton, which would rattle beneath the body of the next prisoner
that fell. I do not believe that it was anything more than a secret
dungeon for state prisoners whom it was out of the question either to set
at liberty or bring to public trial.
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