Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER XX. ST. ANDREA. It thus appeared that in the face of common sense and humanity I was to be detained for some months longer in this abominable place, and it may be supposed that it was a bitter draught to swallow. I thought it childish, however, to be making grimaces about it, or to give way to useless railing. I endeavored, on the other hand, to habituate myself as much as possible to the weariness of the life I was destined to lead. It was not the confinement in itself that I found the most difficult to endure. But the sight of the infamous wretches around me, whose contact it was impossible at all times to avoid, was loathsome in the extreme. The corridor I had formerly occupied alone, and whose dark solitnde was far preferable to association with the miserable felons so near me, was now sadly metamorphosed. It had been found that, for want of sufficient air, the place was considered too unhealthy to be converted into cells, even for the worst criminals, so it had been decided to turn it into shops, to be occupied only by day, and to remove the prisoners to other dormitories for the night. Whatever might be the consequences to my health, it was impossible to change my quarters unless I could manage to herd it up-stairs in the large room before allnded to. It cost me no hesitation to decide on staying where I was, for the chance of illness was far less insupportable than living in immediate contact with the filthy outcasts that for the most part made up its occupants. It is a disgrace to the municipality of Genoa that in a town where it is the custom to imprison, even before the offence is inquired veto, that some locality is not assigned for individuals accused of venial infractions of law, or of political misdemeanors. Whilst a tenant of St. Andrea, I remarked ...