"Ah me! and then,—you remember."
"Remember? I shall never forget it,—the trap could not be moved! When this dreadful thing was discovered, both our thief and the Duke got up high on the ladder, and, with heads on one side and heaving with their shoulders, failed to open it. It was quite in vain. The thief, as usual, took a gay view of the situation. They have, said he, rolled a cask of wine on to the trap. They will drink it up, or steal it by the gallon, and when the cask is lighter we can heave it off, or—'
"'Thou art a merry sinner,' said the Duke, and even my mother laughed, and we boys. The gay noise came back dismally, thus bottled up in the narrow vault. But when we began to reflect, we knew that we were buried alive. Our thief had no end of schemes. We would bore through the door with an auger, and then bore into the barrel and let the wine run out. 'But we have no auger,' said the Duke, 'and the door is covered with sheet-iron.' 'No matter, he would think; if he walked, he could think better,' and so he moved to and fro awhile in search of wisdom.
"By this time, because our young stomachs began to cry out, we lit a candle, and my mother gave us all our portions, while I sat on the ladder top so as to hear if any one came. For a little while we were strangely cheerful, and this I saw happen whenever we lit up our vault. The baby smiled, and we moved about and made believe it was a small matter, after all. As for our thief, he was a treasure of queer stories, and you could not help but laugh, even if you were desolate the minute after.
"Our thief had made ready his lantern, and, as I said, began to prowl about into corners, and at last stumbled over our Duke's legs.
"'Diable!' cried the Duke. 'Put out your light; we have few enough candles; and keep quiet, too. You are as uneasy as a cat of the streets.'
"'And I am but a street cat, Monsieur, and have wisdom enough to know that the lazy eat no mice.'
"'I don't see how your stumbling about this cellar will help us or you.'
"'Who knows, Monsieur? When you are in a scrape it is never well to keep quiet. I have been in many, and worse than this—perils by sea and land, and rope—I always get out, but—Ah me, to forget them is not easy.'
"'Rope!' said the Duke. 'Indeed—'