was provided with
all necessary appliances. As for me, I had stupidly forgotten even my
coil of rope. The governor's house, I found, had either no balcony at
all, or it was too far apart to be reached. Presently I heard a
footstep on the _trottoir_, a little way off. It was approaching with
slow and measured pace: the person was walking as calmly and gravely
in the night as if it had been broad day. Suppose I hailed this
philosophical stranger, and confided to him, in a friendly way, the
fact that the baronet, without the slightest provocation, had locked
me up in his house, with his silver spoons in my pocket? Perhaps he
would advise me what to do in the predicament. Perhaps he would take
the trouble of knocking at the door, or crying fire, and when the
servants opened, I might rush out, and so make my escape. But while I
was looking wistfully down to see if I could not discern the walking
figure, which was now under the windows, a sudden glare from the spot
dazzled my sight. It was the bull's-eye of a policeman; and with the
instinct of a predatory character, I shrunk back trembling, crept into
the room, and shut the window.

By this time I was sensible that there was a little confusion in my
thoughts, and by way of employing them on practical and useful
objects, I determined to make a tour of the room. But first it was
necessary to get rid, somehow or other, of my plunder--to plant the
property, as we call it; and with that view I laid it carefully, piece
by piece, in the corner of a sofa, and concealed it with the cover.
This was a great relief. I almost began to feel like the injured
party--more like a captive than a robber; and I groped my way through
the room, with a sort of vague idea that I might perhaps stumble upon
some trap-door, or sliding-panel, which would lead into the open air,
or, at worst, into a secret chamber, where I should be safe for any
given number of years from my persecutors. But there was nothing of
the kind in this stern, prosaic place: nothing but a few cabinets and
tables, and couches, and arm-chairs, and common-chairs, and
devotional-chairs; and footstools, and lamps, and statuettes, and
glass-shades, and knick-knacks; and one elaborate girandole hung round
with crystal prisms, which played such an interminable tune against
each other when I chanced to move them, that I stumbled away as fast
as I could, and subsided into a _fauteuil_ so rich, so deep, that I
felt myself swallowed up, a