to a little room
beyond which by an open door they came into a long gallery lined with
pigeon-holes stuffed with parchments, which they conceived to be the
archives. At the end of this gallery they found a short flight of
stairs, and below that yet another, which brought them to a glass door.
Opening this, they entered a room which Casanova immediately identified
as the ducal chancellery. Descent from one of its windows would have
been easy, but they would have found themselves in the labyrinth of
courts and alleys behind Saint Mark's, which would not have suited them
at all.

On a table Casanova found a stout bodkin with a long wooden handle, the
implement used by the secretaries for piercing parchments that were to
be joined by a cord bearing the leaden seals of the Republic. He opened
a desk, and rummaging in it, found a letter addressed to the Proveditor
of Corfu, advising a remittance of three thousand sequins for the
repair of the fortress. He rummaged further, seeking the three thousand
sequins, which he would have appropriated without the least scruple.
Unfortunately they were not there.

Quitting the desk, he crossed to the door, not merely to find it locked,
but to discover that it was not the kind of lock that would yield to
blows. There was no way out but by battering away one of the panels, and
to this he addressed himself without hesitation, assisted by Balbi, who
had armed himself with the bodkin, but who trembled fearfully at the
noise of Casanova's blows. There was danger in this, but the danger must
be braved, for time was slipping away. In half an hour they had broken
down all the panel it was possible to remove without the help of a saw.
The opening they had made was at a height of five feet from the ground,
and the splintered woodwork armed it with a fearful array of jagged
teeth.

They dragged a couple of stools to the door, and getting on to these,
Casanova bade Balbi go first. The long, lean monk folded his arms, and
thrust head and shoulders through the hole; then Casanova lifted him,
first by the waist, then by the legs, and so helped him through into the
room beyond. Casanova threw their bundles after him, and then placing a
third stool on top of the other two, climbed on to it, and, being almost
on a level with the opening, was able to get through as far as his
waist, when Balbi took him in his arms and proceeded to drag him out.
But it was done at the cost of torn breeches and lacerated l