Meanwhile, Panizzi’s arrangements for the deliverance of the prisoners of San Stefano had been gradually and surely progressing, and to all appearance hopefully. He had communicated to Settembrini the manner in which he proposed to make the attempt, and from him received the following letter:— “Santo Stefano, August 31st, 1855. “As a precaution I write this letter with invisible ink, which will be made legible before it is forwarded to you. For the same reason, and in the same way, your letters of the 30th and 31st July have been sent to me. I cannot tell you what I felt on reading them. You are a man who surpasses every expectation. We dared not hope for a steamer; now you offer us one, it is all that we could desire. From your letter it appears that the steamer will not start from Naples, as I had expected. This matters little to us, but it is most important that it should be known in Naples not less than twelve days before. Communication with this place is neither easy nor frequent, and we must know the date fixed upon at least four days in advance, as there are certain indispensable preparations to be made. Now the time it will necessarily take for this letter to reach you, and for you to come to a determination and give Madame Louison (Settembrini), through some person, twelve days’ notice, will bring us to the month of October, which will be more suitable, as the cold weather and rains will then have set in, moreover the nights will be longer. In short we are ready, only requiring four days’ notice, but the date fixed upon must be known in Naples twelve days before. In deciding upon the day, however, care should be taken that there be little or no moon during the early hours of the night, and, therefore, it seems to me that we ought to choose some time between the 6th and 18th of October, and, if it could be the night preceding a holiday, so much the better.