“Monsieur,” said Ferminard, “if my pockets were full of louis, I would pass them to you for the asking. But the big sou—no.” “And why not, may I ask?” “Because, monsieur, it would, as you say, talk to you of liberty, and it might even tempt you to try and make your escape.” “And why should I not make my escape?” “For two reasons, monsieur. First, you have forgotten that you are hiding from M. de Choiseul.” “Curse Choiseul!” “I agree, yet still you are hiding from him. Secondly——” “Well?” “Secondly, monsieur, if you escaped, I would be left with no one to talk to.” “Have you not Bonvallot?” “_Oh hé_! Bonvallot. A man without parts, without understanding, without knowledge of the world! A nice man to leave me in company with!” “But I do not intend leaving you in his company. I ask you only for the big sou that I may look at it and see what another man has done so that he might obtain his liberty. If you refuse to gratify my curiosity, M. Ferminard, I shall stuff up that hole with my blanket, and there will be an end of our pleasant conversations.” “Well, M. de Rochefort, here it is, pull your bed out and I will put it in your hand.” Rochefort arose and pulled his bed out and the hand of Ferminard came through the hole. Rochefort took the coin and approached the lamp with it. It was indeed a marvel: in a moment he managed to unscrew the two surfaces and from the tiny box which they formed when in apposition leaped a little silvery saw, small as a watch-spring. Rochefort, leaving the little saw on the table, refastened the box. “_Mordieu_!” said he, “it is clever. What will you sell it to me for, Monsieur Ferminard?” “You shall have it as a gift, M. Rochefort, when we are both breathing the free air of heaven, but only then.” “You think I will use it to make my escape?” “No, monsieur, I think you might use it to break your neck, or to be re-captured by this horrible Choiseul whose very name gives me the nightmare.” “Well, you are wrong,” replied the other. “Were I outside this place I would not be re-captured, simply because I would do what I ought to have done this morning.” “And what is that?” “Go straight to his Majesty and tell him the whole of my story and ask him to be my judge—or better still, go straight to de Choiseul and talk to him as a man to a man.” “To M. de Choiseul?” “Why, yes. I should never have run away from him. Nor would I, only that on the night of the Presentation I was in a hurry to go to Paris; he tried to stop me and I resisted arrest. And now it seems to me that I am in a hurry to go to Paris again and that de Sartines is trying to stop me, and that I am prepared to resist his hand.” He had almost forgotten Lavenne and his words, he had almost forgotten the presence of Ferminard on the other side of the wall, and he talked half to himself as he paced the floor uneasily, the big sou in his hand and his mind revolving this new idea that had only just occurred to him.