Borzinski now arose, pulled off his boots, and though every step was
made with difficulty, he ascended the stairs leading to the first story.
He went along the passage way until he came to a door leading into
corridors where the cloister brethren lodged. But the trembling fit came
over him again, with indescribable anguish, as he sought to open the
door with a key with which he had been furnished. He soon rallied again,
and, like a spectre, gliding by the doors of the brethren, who occupied
the second and third corridors, many of whom had lights still burning,
he came with his boots in one hand, and his bundle in the other, to
a fourth passage way, in which was an outside window he was trying to
reach. The cord was soon fastened to the window frame, yet still in
bitter apprehension; for this window was seldom opened, and opened
hard, and with some noise. It was also only two steps distant from the
apartment of the cloister physician, where there was a light, and it was
most likely that, on the first grating of the window, he would rush
out and apprehend the fugitive. However the window was opened without
raising any alarm, and now it was necessary to see that no one was
passing below; for though the spot is not very much frequented, yet
the streets cross there, and people approach it from four different
directions. During these critical moments, one person and another kept
passing, and poor Borzinski tarried shivering in the window for near a
quarter of an hour before he ventured to let himself down. While he
was waiting his opportunity he heard the clock strike the third quarter
after nine and knew that he had but fifteen minutes to reach the house
where he was to conceal himself, which would be closed at ten. When all
was still, he called most fervently on the Saviour, and grasping the
cord, slid down into the street. He could scarce believe his feet were
on the ground. Trembling now with joy and gratitude rather than fear, he
ran bareheaded to his place of refuge, where he received a glad welcome.
Having changed his garb, and tarried till three o'clock in the morning,
he took leave of his friends and passing through the gloomy old capital
of Bohemia, he reached the Portzitscher Gate, in order to pass out
as early as possible. Just then a police corporal let in a wagon, and
Borzinski, passed out unchallenged. It is needless to follow him further
in his flight. We have given enough, of his history to prove that
conventual establishments are at this moment what they ever have
been--dangerous alike to liberty and life. AMERICAN AND FOREIGN
CHRISTIAN UNION.
In place of labored arguments we give the following history of personal
suffering as strikingly illustrative of the spirit of Romanism at the
present day.
APPENDIX VII
NARRATIVE OP SIGNORINA FLORIENCIA D' ROMANI, A NATIVE OF THE CITY OF
NAPLES.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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