him that I had not been
searched previous to my imprisonment. Lawrence himself had received no
orders to search me, and this circumstance might have stood him in good
stead if I had succeeded in escaping, as all prisoners handed over to him
by the captain of the guard were supposed to have been searched already.
On the other hand, Messer-Grande might have said that, having seen me get
out of my bed, he was sure that I had no weapons about me, and thus both
of them would have got out of trouble. The monk ended by begging me to
send him my knife by Nicolas, on whom I might rely.

The monk's thoughtlessness seemed to me almost incredible. I wrote and
told him that I was not at all inclined to put my trust in Nicolas, and
that my secret was one not to be imparted in writing. However, 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 enormously
fat, and as he had a broken leg which had been badly set he could hardly
put one foot before another. It seems that the count, not being a very
wealthy man, followed the profession of a barrister at Udine, and in that
capacity defended the country-folk against the nobility, who wished to
deprive the peasants of their vote in the assembly of the province. The
claims of the farmers disturbed the public peace, and by way of bringing
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 him to defend the constitution, and
would not give 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 money. The monk, who was always penniless, told me a good 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 Townships," who were likewise imprisoned for
disobedience, but one of them had become mad, and was in chains; in
another cell, he said, there were two lawyers.

My suspicions quieted, I reasoned as follows:

I wish to regain my liberty at all hazards. My pike is an admirable
instrument, but I can make no use of it as my cell is sounded all over
(except the ceiling) every day. If I would escape, it is by the ceili