“Fulk!”
“Aymer!”
The picture was lifted, and Fulk’s head appeared in the orifice.
“Remember,” he said, “your first object is to get strong; unless you get strong, neither of us can escape. Therefore, eat and drink, and above all, sleep. If you fidget yourself, you will waste away. The sooner you get strong, the sooner you will get out and find your Violet. Push your armchair up close under this picture, and speak low, lest a warder should steal along on tiptoe. Take a book in your hand as if reading.”
Aymer did as he was told. Fulk’s head receded. “It is difficult for me to keep long in that position,” he said; “I am not tall enough. But we can talk just as well.”
“How came that hole in the wall?” asked Aymer.
“How came your book published?” said Fulk. “By the same process—patience and perseverance. No credit to me though. When a man is confined for two years in one room, he is glad enough of something to do.”
“Why did you make such a hole—how did you do it? It was very clever.”
“It was very easy. The poker did a part, the steel to sharpen the dinner knife did another part!”
“But were they not afraid to leave such instruments in your room?”