"What am I to do?"
"It's quite simple, mother. When I made this hole, I saw that it could be widened easily enough, if it were possible also to take out the three or four stones next to it. But these are firmly fixed; and we should need an implement of some kind."
"Well, I'll go and . . ."
"Yes, do, mother. Go back to the Priory. To the left of the house, in a basement, is a sort of workshop where Maguennoc kept his garden-tools. You will find a small pick-axe there, with a very short handle. Bring it me in the evening. I will work during the night; and to-morrow morning I shall give you a kiss, mother."
"Oh, it sounds too good to be true!"
"I promise you I shall. Then all that we shall have to do will be to release Stéphane."
"Your tutor? Do you know where he is shut up?"
"I do almost know. According to the particulars which grandfather gave us, the underground passages consist of two floors one above the other; and the last cell of each is fitted as a prison. I occupy one of them. Stéphane should occupy the other, below mine. What worries me . . ."
"What is it?"
"Well, it's this: according to grandfather again, these two cells were once torture-chambers . . . 'death chambers' was the word grandfather used."