He found himself again alone; but his conversation with the soldiers had been of service to him. His weakness had pa.s.sed; his _sang-froid_ had returned; he would now reflect.
He was surprised that he had heard nothing from Mme. d"Escorval and from Maurice.
Could it be that they had been refused access to the prison? No, they could not be; he could not imagine that there existed men sufficiently cruel to prevent a doomed man from pressing to his heart, in a last embrace, his wife and his son.
Yet, how was it that neither the baroness nor Maurice had made an attempt to see him! Something must have prevented them from doing so.
What could it be?
He imagined the worst misfortunes. He saw his wife writhing in agony, perhaps dead. He pictured Maurice, wild with grief, upon his knees at the bedside of his mother.
But they might come yet. He consulted his watch. It marked the hour of seven.
But he waited in vain. No one came.
He took up his pen, and was about to write, when he heard a bustle in the corridor outside. The clink of spurs resounded on the flags; he heard the sharp clink of the rifle as the guard presented arms.
Trembling, the baron sprang up, saying:
"They have come at last!"
He was mistaken; the footsteps died away in the distance.
"A round of inspection!" he murmured.
But at the same moment, two objects thrown through the tiny opening in the door of his cell fell on the floor in the middle of the room.
M. d"Escorval caught them up. Someone had thrown him two files.
His first feeling was one of distrust. He knew that there were jailers who left no means untried to dishonor their prisoners before delivering them to the executioner.
Was it a friend, or an enemy, that had given him these instruments of deliverance and of liberty.
Chanlouineau"s words and the look that accompanied them recurred to his mind, perplexing him still more.
He was standing with knitted brows, turning and returning the fine and well-tempered files in his hands, when he suddenly perceived upon the floor a tiny sc.r.a.p of paper which had, at first, escaped his notice.
He s.n.a.t.c.hed it up, unfolded it, and read:
"Your friends are at work. Everything is prepared for your escape. Make haste and saw the bars of your window. Maurice and his mother embrace you. Hope, courage!"
Beneath these few lines was the letter M.
But the baron did not need this initial to be rea.s.sured. He had recognized Abbe Midon"s handwriting.
"Ah! he is a true friend," he murmured.
Then the recollection of his doubts and despair arose in his mind.
"This explains why neither my wife nor son came to visit me," he thought. "And I doubted their energy--and I was complaining of their neglect!"
Intense joy filled his breast; he raised the letter that promised him life and liberty to his lips, and enthusiastically exclaimed:
"To work! to work!"
He had chosen the finest of the two files, and was about to attack the ponderous bars, when he fancied he heard someone open the door of the next room.
Someone had opened it, certainly. The person closed it again, but did not lock it.
Then the baron heard someone moving cautiously about. What did all this mean? Were they incarcerating some new prisoner, or were they stationing a spy there?
Listening breathlessly, the baron heard a singular sound, whose cause it was absolutely impossible to explain.
Noiselessly he advanced to the former communicating door, knelt, and peered through one of the interstices.
The sight that met his eyes amazed him.
A man was standing in a corner of the room. The baron could see the lower part of the man"s body by the light of a large lantern which he had deposited on the floor at his feet. He was turning around and around very quickly, by this movement unwinding a long rope which had been twined around his body as thread is wound about a bobbin.
M. d"Escorval rubbed his eyes as if to a.s.sure himself that he was not dreaming. Evidently this rope was intended for him. It was to be attached to the broken bars.
But how had this man succeeded in gaining admission to this room?
Who could it be that enjoyed such liberty in the prison? He was not a soldier--or, at least, he did not wear a uniform.
Unfortunately, the highest crevice was in such a place that the visual ray did not strike the upper part of the man"s body; and, despite the baron"s efforts, he was unable to see the face of this friend--he judged him to be such--whose boldness verged on folly.
Unable to resist his intense curiosity, M. d"Escorval was on the point of rapping on the wall to question him, when the door of the room occupied by this man, whom the baron already called his saviour, was impetuously thrown open.
Another man entered, whose face was also outside the baron"s range of vision; and the new-comer, in a tone of astonishment, exclaimed:
"Good heavens! what are you doing?"
The baron drew back in despair.
"All is discovered!" he thought.
The man whom M. d"Escorval believed to be his friend did not pause in his labor of unwinding the rope, and it was in the most tranquil voice that he responded:
"As you see, I am freeing myself from this burden of rope, which I find extremely uncomfortable. There are at least sixty yards of it, I should think--and what a bundle it makes! I feared they would discover it under my cloak."
"And what are you going to do with all this rope?" inquired the new-comer.
"I am going to hand it to Baron d"Escorval, to whom I have already given a file. He must make his escape to-night."
So improbable was this scene that the baron could not believe his own ears.
"I cannot be awake; I must be dreaming," he thought.