th
the prisoner, were singing for his information the tragic fates of his
brother, Count Horn, and of his friend, Count Egmont. Mingled with the
strain were warnings of his own approaching doom; if he were not able to
effect his escape before it should be too late. Thus by this friendly
masquerade did Montigny learn the fate of his brother, which otherwise,
in that land of terrible secrecy, might have been concealed from him for
ever.

The hint as to his own preservation was not lost upon him; and he at once
set about a plan of escape. He succeeded in gaining over to his interests
one of the eight soldiers by whom he was guarded, and he was thus enabled
to communicate with many of his own adherents without the prison walls.
His major-domo had previously been permitted to furnish his master's
table with provisions dressed by his own cook. A correspondence was now
carried on by means of letters concealed within the loaves of bread sent
daily to the prisoner. In the same way files were provided for sawing
through his window-bars. A very delicate ladder of ropes, by which he was
to effect his escape into the court below, was also transmitted. The plan
had been completely arranged. A certain Pole employed in the enterprise
was to be at Hernani, with horses in readiness to convey them to San
Sebastian. There a sloop had been engaged, and was waiting their arrival.
Montigny, accordingly, in a letter enclosed within a loaf of bread--the
last, as he hoped, which he should break in prison--was instructed, after
cutting off his beard and otherwise disguising his person, to execute his
plan and join his confederates at Hernani. Unfortunately, the major-domo
of Montigny was in love. Upon the eve of departure from Spain, his
farewell interview with his mistress was so much protracted that the care
of sending the bread was left to another. The substitute managed so
unskilfully that the loaf was brought to the commandant of the castle,
and not to the prisoner. The commandant broke the bread, discovered the
letter, and became master of the whole plot. All persons engaged in the
enterprise were immediately condemned to death, and the Spanish soldier
executed without delay. The others being considered, on account of their
loyalty to their master as deserving a commutation of punishment, were
sent to the galleys. The major-domo, whose ill-timed gallantry had thus
cost Montigny his liberty, received two hundred lashes in addition. All,
howe