fell to dust, so feeling certain of my ability to make a large enough
hole in less than a hour I returned to my cell, and for four hours
employed myself in cutting up sheets, coverlets, and bedding, to make
ropes. I took care to make the knots myself and to be assured of their
strength, for a single weak knot might cost us our lives. At last I had
ready a hundred fathoms of rope.

In great undertakings there are certain critical points which the leader
who deserves to succeed trusts to no one but himself. When the rope was
ready I made a parcel of my suit, my cloak, a few shirts, stockings, and
handkerchiefs, and the three of us went into the count's cell. The first
thing the count did was to congratulate Soradaci on having been placed in
the same cell as myself, and on being so soon about to regain his
liberty. His air of speechless confusion made me want to laugh. I took no
more trouble about him, for I had thrown off the mask of Tartuffe which I
had found terribly inconvenient all the time I had worn it for the
rascal's sake. He knew, I could see, that he had been deceived, but he
understood nothing else, as he could not make out how I could have
arranged with the supposed angel to come and go at certain fixed times.
He listened attentively to the count, who told us we were going to our
destruction, and like the coward that he was, he began to plan how to
escape from the dangerous journey. I told the monk to put his bundle
together while I was making the hole in the roof by the side of the loft.

At eight o'clock, without needing any help, my opening was made. I had
broken up the beams, and the space was twice the size required. I got the
plate of lead off in one piece. I could not do it by myself, because it
was riveted. The monk came to my aid, and by dint of driving the bar
between the gutter and the lead I succeeded in loosening it, and then,
heaving at it with our shoulders, we beat it up till the opening was wide