Still going carefully, one hand moving along the wall, or what she supposed to be the rocky side of the cavern, she shivered at the thought of what her feet might presently touch--those forbidding skeletons over which, when she first came with Herman, she had thrown her cloak in reverence for the unknown dead. But with the dread there was another thought, and one of surprise. This rock, or wall, which she was touching was wet, and the air had a clammy feeling in it. Her hand became so damp that she caught up her skirt to wipe it. She shuddered when she felt her way on again, thinking to get to the opening to the river, for her hand touched a chill and slimy substance, and then it moved. What did it mean? The rock which she and Herman had gone round was dry; the floor was crisp and dry as well. Thinking of this, she bent down to feel what the floor was like, and it was wet. She was bewildered. Was she in the same place, or had she wandered somewhere else in a state of semi-consciousness, in a sleep-walk, perhaps? Determined to solve this problem, she moved on, and then her hand touched something which brought a cry of wonder to her lips. There was a break in the wall, and her hand went out into the open air, but as she moved her hand farther it struck against something, and her fingers closed over a cold iron bar. There was another, and a third. Running her hands up and down the bars, she came to a stop at the top; to another stop at the bottom. Looking before her, she saw something glinting, and, watching it, she knew it to be a star. In her growing astonishment she saw another, and yet one more; then many. There was a moon somewhere, but hidden behind the clouds which again and again rolled by and shut away the stars. It began to dawn on her that she was not in the cavern. She continued her progress along the wall, and came to something, the discovery of which brought a cry of anguish to her lips. It was a door, cold to the touch, and sheeted with iron, rough on the surface, as though the rust had formed on it because of the dampness of the place. As her soft hand ran over it she felt iron ribs crossing the door from left to right, and solid studs like the square heads of great nails. A greater horror came to her than if she had found herself shut up in the cavern near to Herman's home; for now she knew that she was not in it. This was some other place--but what? Determined to assure herself, she stood with her back to the door, and walked forward slowly, groping in the darkness, with her hand stretched out before her. She had not gone far before her feet brushed against something which rustled, and, stooping, her hand touched some spread-out straw. Once more upright, she moved across the straw, and came to the wall. The truth dawned on her now, and she sank on the straw with a sense of horror, hopelessness, an indescribable fear--she knew not what to call it. But this she knew, that she was in prison!