Colors, colors, canvas, a model like Sophonisba, and success in the realm
of Art! It was for these things he longed, these things made him yearn
with such passionate eagerness for deliverance, liberty.

Months glided by, maturing Ulrich's mind as rapidly as if they had been
years; but his inclination to retire within himself deepened into intense
reserve.

At last the day arrived on which, through the influence of the Marquesa
Romero, the doors of his dungeon opened.

It was soon after receiving a sharp warning to renounce his obstinacy at
the next examination, that the youth was suddenly informed that he was
free. The jailer took off his fetters, and helped him exchange his
prison garb for the dress he had worn when captured; then disguised men
threw a sack over his head and led him up and down stairs and across
pavements, through dust and grass, into the little court-yard of a
deserted house in the suburbs. There they left him, and he soon released
his head from its covering.

How delicious God's free air seemed, as his chest heaved with grateful
joy! He threw out his arms like a bird stretching its wings to fly, then
he clasped his hands over his brow, and at last, as if a second time
pursued, rushed out of the court-yard into the street. The passers-by
looked after him, shaking their heads, and he certainly presented a
singular spectacle, for the dress in which he had fled many months
before, had sustained severe injuries on the journey from Avila; his hat
was lost on the way, and had not been replaced by a new one. The cuffs
and collar, which belonged to his doublet, were missing, and his thick,
fair hair hung in dishevelled locks over his neck and temples; his full,