Note 10 — Chapter XII · EXILI SPREADS THE SNARE FOR SAINTE-CROIX, WHO FALLS INTO IT

All these towers contained the cells for the prisoners; and as a portion of our story must now necessarily pass in the Bastille, we will call the attention of the reader to them; but briefly as possible. In each tower were five ranges of cells. The lowest of these, or cachots,10 were the most horrible, receiving what little light they had from the lower part of the fosse. The floor was covered with a nauseous slime, perpetually oozing from the low grounds around, and laden with rank and poisonous exhalations. Here noisome reptiles—the toad, the lizard, and the rat, had their homes—sweltering and crawling on the damp floor; from which the only refuge allowed to the wretched prisoner was a species of bed, formed by iron bars projecting from the wall, a few inches above the ground. In many of these sinks, still greater misery was contrived for the occupant. The lower part was a mere well, cut out in the form of an inverted sugar-loaf, in which the prisoner was compelled to exist, so that the feet found no level resting-place, nor could the body repose.