Is not this letter charming in its artless pathos? The son's reply is equally touching; but on reading it again one feels that it was to pass under the eyes of the lieutenant of police; on examining it closely, one sees the sentiments grimacing between the lines. No one knew better than Danry how to play on the souls of others, to awake in them, at his will, pity or tenderness, astonishment or admiration. No one has surpassed him in the art, difficult in very truth, of posing as a hero, a genius, and a martyr, a part that we shall see him sustain for twenty years without faltering. In 1759 there entered upon the office of lieutenant of police a man who was henceforth to occupy Danry's mind almost exclusively--Gabriel de Sartine. He was a fine sceptic, of amiable character and pleasing manners. He was loved by the people of Paris, who boasted of his administrative abilities and his spirit of justice. He exerted himself in his turn to render the years of captivity less cruel to Danry. "He allowed me," writes the latter, "what no other State prisoner has ever obtained, the privilege of walking along the top of the towers, in the open air, to preserve my health." He cheered the prisoner with genial words, and urged him to behave well and no longer to fill his letters with insults. "Your fate," he told him, "is in your own hands." He looked into Danry's scheme for the construction of public granaries, and when he had read it said, "Really, there are excellent things, most excellent things in it." He visited Danry in prison and promised to do his utmost to obtain his liberation. He himself put into the hands of Madame de Pompadour the _Grand Mémoire_ which Danry had drawn up for her. In this memorial the prisoner told the favourite that in return for a service he had rendered her in sending her a "hieroglyphic symbol" to put her on her guard against the machinations of her enemies, she had caused him to suffer unjustly for twelve years. Moreover, he would now only accept his freedom along with an indemnity of 60,000 livres. He added: "Be on your guard! When your prisoners get out and publish your cruelties abroad, they will make you hateful to heaven and the whole earth!" It is not surprising that this _Grand Mémoire_ had practically no result. Sartine promised that he would renew his efforts on his behalf. "If, unhappily, you should meet with some resistance to the entreaties you are about to make for me," wrote Danry, "I take the precaution of sending you a copy of the scheme I sent to the king." (This was the memorial suggesting that muskets should be given to the officers and sergeants.) "Now the king has been putting my scheme in operation for five years or more, and he will continue to avail himself of it every time we are at war." Sartine proceeded to Versailles, this marvellous scheme in his pocket. He showed it to the ministers and pleaded on behalf of this protégé of his who, from the depths of his dungeon, was doing his country service.