Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Maturin — Read

Fear not now the fever's fire, / Fear not now the deathbed groan; / Pangs that torture, pains that tire / Bed-rid age with feeble moan. / - Mason

The first examination of Isidora was conducted with the circumspective formality that has always been known to mark the proceedings of that tribunal. The second and the third were alike strict, penetrating and inoperative, and the holy office began to feel its highest functionaries were no match for the extraordinary prisoner who stood before them, who, combining the extremes of simplicity and magnanimity, uttered everything that might criminate herself, but evaded with skill that baffled all the arts of inquisitorial examination, every question that referred to Melmoth.