; 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 scrap of paper which had, at first, escaped his notice.

He snatched 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 reassured. 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
h