Volume II Part 69 (1/2)

”From you”

”Well, for the moment, sir, I'm dashed, for I did not think that wityou any lies You it ith your own hands gave me all the requisites--oil, flint, and ht; but can you shew ave you the tools to make that hole?”

”Certainly, for you are the only person who has given ”

”Lord have ave you a hatchet?”

”I will tell you the whole story and I will speak the truth, but only in the presence of the secretary”

”I don't wish to know anyyou say I only ask you to say nothing about it, as I am a poor man with a family to provide for” He went out with his head between his hands

I congratulatedfound a way to h to hang hi anything to his superiors about theh he did not dare to say so He asked me what I could ith books with so many to my hand

”I have read theet someone who is here to lend you his books, if you will lend yours in return; thus you will save your money”

”Perhaps the books are romances, for which I do not care”

”They are scientific works; and if you think yours is the only long head here, you are very ood, we shall see I will lend this book to the 'long head,' and do you bring iven hiht me the first volume of Wolff's works Well pleased with it I told hiht, that I would do without Maffei

Less pleased with the learned reading than at the opportunity to begin a correspondence with soht help me in my plan of escape (which I had already sketched out in one, and was overjoyed to find on one of the leaves the maxim of Seneca, 'Calaant verses I made another six on the spot, and this is the way in which I contrived to write the to serve as an earpick; I out it to a point, andto prick ht me that the juice of some mulberries I had by me would be an excellent substitute for ink Besides the six verses I wrote out a list of my books, and put it in the back of the saenerally bound in parchment, and in such a way that when the book is opened the back becoe I wrote, 'latet' I was anxious to get an answer, so the next day I told Lawrence that I had read the book and wanted another; and in a few minutes the second volume was in my hands

As soon as I was alone I opened the book, and found a loose leaf with the following communication in Latin:

”Both of us are in the same prison, and to both of us it aoler procures us a privilege before unknown to such a place I, Marin Balbi, rite to you, aular cleric, and my companion is Count Andre Asquin, of Udine, the capital of Friuli He begs me to inform you that all the books in his possession, of which you will find a list at the back of this volume, are at your service; but arn you that wediscovered by Lawrence”

In our position there was nothing wonderful in our both pitching on the idea of sending each other the catalogues of our s-place--the back of the books; all this was plain common sense; but the advice to be careful contained on the loose leaf struck me with some astonishment It seemed next to impossible that Lawrence should leave the book unopened, but if he had opened it he would have seen the leaf, and not knowing how to read he would have kept it in his pocket till he could get someone to tell hiled at its birth This made me think thatthrough the list, I wrote who I was, how I had been arrested, norance as to what cri free Balbi then wrote ave me the history of all his misfortunes He had been four years in prison, and the reason was that he had enjoyed the good graces of three girls, of whom he had three children, all of whom he baptized under his own name

The first time his superior had let him off with an admonition, the second time he was threatened with punishment, and on the third and last occasion he was iht him his dinner every day He told me in his letter that both the superior and the Tribunal were tyrants, since they had no lawful authority over his conscience: that being sure that the three children were his, he thought himself constrained as ahis naed to recognize his children to prevent slander attributing them to others, which would have injured the reputation of the three honest girls who bore them; and besides he could not stifle the voice of nature, which spoke so well on behalf of these little ones His last words were, ”There is no danger of the superior falling into the same fault, as he confines his attention to the boys”

This letter ician, vicious, a fool, indiscreet, and ungrateful, all this appeared in his letter, for after telling me that he should be badly off without Count Asquin as seventy years old, and had books andme of his faults and follies

In society I should have had nothing more to do with a ed to put everything to some use I found in the back of the book a pencil, pens, and paper, and I was thus enabled to write at my ease

He told me also the history of the prisoners ere under the Leads, and of those who had been there since his iht him whatever he wanted was called Nicolas, he also told me the names of the prisoners, and what he knew about theave me the history of the hole I had made It seems I had been taken from my cell to make room for the patrician Priuli, and that Lawrence had taken two hours to repair the dae I had done, and that he had imparted the secret to the carpenter, the blacksuards under pain of death if they revealed it

”In another day,” the guard had said, ”Casanova would have escaped, and Lawrence would have swung, for though he pretended great astonishment when he saw the hole, there can be no doubt that he and no other provided the tools” ”Nicolas has told adin has promised him a thousand sequins if he will aid you to make your escape but that Lawrence, who knows of it, hopes to get theto obtain your liberty by means of the influence of his ith M Diedo None of the guards dare to speak of what happened for fear Lawrence e by having theed ot the tools, and to count upon his keeping the secret

I had no doubts as to his curiosity, but many as to his discretion, and this very request shewed him to be the most indiscreet of men

Nevertheless, I concluded that I must make use of him, for he seean to write an answer to him, but a sudden suspicion made me keep back what I had written I fancied that the correspondence iven me the tools, and what I had done with theknife in e in the passage In less than three days this false confidence of o to the , as he would certainly have done if the letter had been intercepted Furtherht have a knife, as Lawrence had told him that I had not been searched previous to my imprisonment Lawrence himself had received no orders to search ood stead if I had succeeded in escaping, as all prisoners handed over to hiuard were supposed to have been searched already On the other hand, Messer-Grande et out of my bed, he was sure that I had no weapons about ot out of trouble Theht rely

The htlessness seemed to me almost incredible I wrote and told him that I was not at all inclined to put my trust in Nicolas, and thatHowever, I was amused by his letters In one of them he told me why Count Asquin was kept under the Leads, in spite of his helplessness, for he was enor which had been badly set he could hardly put one foot before another It see a very wealthy man, followed the profession of a barrister at Udine, and in that capacity defended the country-folk against the nobility, ished to deprive the peasants of their vote in the assembly of the province The claims of the far them to reason the nobles had recourse to the State Inquisitors, who ordered the count-barrister to abandon his clients The count replied that the municipal law authorized hiive in; whereon the Inquisitors arrested him, law or no law, and for the last five years he had breathed the invigorating air of The Leads Like myself he had fifty sous a day, but he could do what he liked with the ood deal to the disadvantage of the count, whom he represented as very miserly He informed me that in the cell on the other side of the hall there were two gentlemen of the ”Seven Townshi+ps,” ere likewise imprisoned for disobedience, but one of them had become mad, and was in chains; in another cell, he said, there were tyers