a strong door kept
closed night and day, so that it is impossible that ingenuity alone,
unaided by some violent efforts, can rescue me.

"'Wait,' said I, after turning in my mind for a moment an idea that
struck me as excellent; 'could you bring me a pistol?' 'Softly,' said
Lescaut to me, 'you don't think of committing murder?' I assured him
that I had so little intention of shooting anyone, that it would not be
even necessary to have the pistol loaded. 'Bring it to me tomorrow,' I
added, 'and do not fail to be exactly opposite the great entrance with
two or three of your friends at eleven tomorrow night; I think I shall
be able to join you there.' He in vain requested me to explain my
plan. I told him that such an attempt as I contemplated could only
appear rational after it had succeeded. I begged of him to shorten his
visit, in order that he might with the less difficulty be admitted next
morning. He was accordingly admitted as readily as on his first visit.
He had put on so serious an air, moreover, that a stranger would have
taken him for a respectable person.

"When I found in my hand the instrument of my liberty, I no longer
doubted my success. It was certainly a strange and a bold project; but
of what was I not capable, with the motives that inspired me? I had,
since I was allowed permission to walk in the galleries, found
opportunities of observing that every night the porter brought the keys
of all the doors to the governor, and subsequently there always reigned
a profound silence in the house, which showed that the inmates had
retired to rest. There was an open communication between my room and
that of the Superior. My resolution was, if he refused quietly to
surrender the keys, to force him, by fear of the pistol, to deliver
them up, and then by their help to gain the street. I impatiently
awaited the moment for executing my purpose. The porter arrived at his
usual time, that is to say, soon after nine o'clock. I allowed an hour
to elapse, in order that the priests as well as the servants might be
all asleep. I at length proceeded with my pistol and a lighted candle.
I first gave a gentle tap at the governor's door to awaken without
alarming him. I knocked a second time before he heard me; and
supposing of course that it was one of the priests who was taken ill
and wanted assistance, he got out of bed, dressed himself, and came to
the door. He had, however, the precaution to ask first who it