The conclusion of my friends, and of the public, must have been that I had perished in the flames.

An excavation of the ruins, unless thorough, would not have disclosed the recess in the foundation walls connecting with my chamber.

To be sure, if the site had been again built upon, at least immediately, such an excavation would have been necessary, but the troublous times and the undesirable character of the locality might well have prevented rebuilding.

The size of the trees in the garden now occupying the site indicated, Dr.Leete said, that for more than half a century at least it had been open ground.
[1] In accounting for this state of mind it must be remembered that, except for the topic of our conversations, there was in my surroundings next to nothing to suggest what had befallen me.

Within a block of my home in the old Boston I could have found social circles vastly more foreign to me.