Once
or twice, however, being impatient, I scratched the stone with
some asperity and noise, and was rewarded by hearing my fellow
stumbling in the hall; for he had as uncertain limbs as ever I
saw. He stumbled upon nothing, as you have seen a child trip
itself up by tangling of its feet.
The first time that he came, roused by the grating noise as he
sat below, he stumbled in the very centre of the cell, and fell
upon his knees. I would have laughed if I had dared, but I yawned
over the book I had hastily snatched up, and puffed great whiffs
from my pipe. I dreaded lest he should go to the window. He started
for it, but suddenly made for my couch, and dragged it away, as if
looking to find a hole dug beneath it. Still I did not laugh at him,
but gravely watched him; and presently he went away. At another
time I was foolishly harsh with my tools; but I knew now the time
required by him to come upstairs, and I swiftly filled the groove
with bread, strewed ashes and sand over it, rubbed all smooth, and
was plunged in my copy of Montaigne when he entered.
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