. A surgeon came, his father and mother were sent
for, and when Doltaire had left there was hope that he would live.

I learned also that Voban had carried word to the Governor of the deed
to be done that night; had for a long time failed to get admittance to
him, but was at last permitted to tell his story; and Vaudreuil had gone
to Bigot's palace to have me hurried to the citadel, and had come just
too late.

After answering my first few questions, Gabord say nothing more, and
presently he took the torch from the wall and with a gruff good-night
prepared to go. When I asked that a light be left, he shook his head,
said he had no orders. Whereupon he left me, the heavy door clanging
to, the bolts were shot, and I was alone in darkness with my wounds and
misery. My cloak had been put into the cell beside my couch, and this
I now drew over me, and I lay and thought upon my condition and my
prospects, which, as may be seen, were not cheering. I did not suffer
great pain from my wounds--only a stiffness that troubled me not at all
if I lay still. After an hour or so passed--for it is hard to keep count
of time when one's thoughts are the only timekeeper--I fell asleep.

I know not how long I slept, but I awoke refreshed. I stretched forth my
uninjured arm, moving it about. In spite of will a sort of hopelessness
went through me, for I could feel long blades of corn grown up about
my couch, an unnatural meadow, springing from the earth floor of my
dungeon. I drew the blades between my fingers, feeling towards them as
if they were things of life out of place like myself. I wondered what
colour they were. Surely, said I to myself, they can not be green, but
rather a yellowish white, bloodless, having only fibre, the heart all
pinched to death. Last night I had not noted them, yet now, looking
back, I saw, as in a picture, Gabord the soldier feeling among them
for the knife that I had taken. So may we see things, and yet not be
conscious of them at the time, waking to their knowledge afterwards.
So may we for years look upon a face without understanding, and then,
suddenly, one day it comes flashing out, and we read its hidden story
like a book.

I put my hand out farther, then brought it back near to my couch,
feeling towards its foot mechanically, and now I touched an earthen pan.
A small board lay across its top, and moving my fingers along it I
found a piece of bread. Then I felt the jar, and knew it was filled with
wa