You need not believe that that great vaulted chamber was
the 'Chamber of the Inquisition.' But you must believe that those
two ugly rings let into the roof were put there for the torture of
the cord; and that many a naked wretch has dangled from them ere now,
confessing anything and everything that he--or, alas she--was bidden.
But these and their like are the usual furniture of every mediaeval
court of justice; and torture was not altogether abolished in France
till the latter part of the eighteenth century. You need not
believe, again, that that circular tower on the opposite side of the
town was really the 'Tower of the Inquisition;' for many a feudal
lord, besides the Inquisitors, had their dens of cruelty in those old
times. You need not even believe--though it is too likely to be
true--that that great fireplace in the little first-floor room served
for the torture of the scarpines. But you must believe that in that
little round den beneath it, only approached by a trap in the floor,
two skeletons were found fastened by those chains to that central
pillar, having died and rotted forgotten in that horrid oubliette--
how many centuries ago?
'Plusieurs ont gemis la bas,' said M.
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