the same was said of Chalais. I do not remember that it saved
his head.'

This was not reassuring. But worse was to come. Early in the
morning orders were received that I should be treated with
especial strictness, and I was given the choice between irons and
one of the cells below the level. Choosing the latter, I was
left to reflect upon many things; among others, on the queer and
uncertain nature of the Cardinal, who loved, I knew, to play with
a man as a cat with a mouse; and on the ill effects which
sometimes attend a high chest-thrust however carefully delivered.
I only rescued myself at last from these and other unpleasant
reflections by obtaining the loan of a pair of dice; and the
light being just enough to enable me to reckon the throws, I
amused myself for hours by casting them on certain principles of
my own. But a long run again and again upset my calculations;
and at last brought me to the conclusion that a run of bad luck
may be so persistent as to see out the most sagacious player.
This was not a reflection very welcome to me at the moment.

Nevertheless, for three days it was all the company I had. At
the end of that time, the knave of a jailor who attended me, and
who had never grown tired of telling me, after the fashion of his
kind, that I should be hanged, came to me with a less assured
air.

'Perhaps you would like a little water?' he said civilly.

'Why, rascal?' I asked.