I immediately tried them on, and they suited me
exactly. Some of the prisoners who saw me thus attired assured me that
it was impossible to detect me. I was the same height as the officer
whose character I was about to assume, and I made myself appear
twenty-five years of age. At the end of a few days, he made his usual
round, and whilst one of my friends occupied his attention, under
pretext of examining his food, I disguised myself hastily, and presented
myself at the door, which the gaolkeeper, taking off his cap, opened,
and I went out into the street. I ran to a friend of Francine's, as
agreed on in case I should succeed, and she soon joined me there.
I was there perfectly safe, if I could resolve on keeping concealed; but
how could I submit to a slavery almost as severe as that of St. Peter's
Tower. As for three months I had been enclosed within four walls, I was
now desirous to exercise the activity so long repressed. I announced my
intention of going out; and, as with me an inflexible determination was
always the auxiliary of the most capricious fancy, I did go. My first
excursion was safely performed, but the next morning, as I was crossing
the Rue Ecremoise, a sergeant named Louis, who had seen me during my
imprisonment, met me, and asked if I was free. He was a severe practical
man, and by a motion of his hand could summon twenty persons.
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