He was kind to his prisoner, with whom he played
whist every evening, but he was bent on fulfilling his duty.

This duty obliged him to See the prince twice a day, and at night
to turn the key upon him, which he put into his pocket.

The fortress of Ham forms a square, with a round tower at each of
the angles. There is only one gate. Between the towers are ramparts,
on one of which the prince daily walked, and in one corner had made
a flower-garden. A canal ran outside the ramparts on two sides;
barracks were under the others. Thelin, the prince's valet, was
suffered to go in and out of the fortress at his pleasure. On the
23d of May, 1845, Thelin went to St. Quentin, the nearest large
town, and hired a cabriolet, which was to meet him the next day at
an appointed place upon the high-road. The prince's plan depended
on there being workmen in the prison, and he had been about to
make a request to have his rooms papered and painted, when the
governor informed him that the staircase was to be repaired. The
day before the one chosen for the attempt, two English gentlemen,
probably by a previous understanding, had visited the prisoner,
and he asked one of them to lend his passport to the valet Thelin.

"Very early on the morning of May 25th, the prince, Dr. Conneau,
and Thelin were looking out eagerly for the arrival of the workmen.
A private soldier whose vigilance they had reason to dread had
been placed on guard that morning, but by good luck he was called
away to attend a dress parade.

"The workmen arrived. They proved to be all painters and masons,--which
was a disappointment to the prince, who had hoped to go out as
a carpenter. But at once he shaved off his long moustache, and
put over his own clothes a coarse shirt, a workman's blouse, a
pair of blue overalls much worn, and a black wig. His hands and
face he also soiled with paint; then, putting on a pair of wooden
shoes and taking an old clay pipe in his mouth, and throwing a
board over his shoulder, he prepared to leave the prison. He had
with him a dagger, and two letters from which he never parted,--one
written by his mother, the other by his uncle, the emperor.

"It was seven o'clock by the time these preparations were made.
Thelin called to the workmen on the staircase to come in and have
a glass of wine. On the prince's way downstairs he met two warders.
One Thelin skilfully drew apart, pretending to have something to
say to him; the other was so inten