He had gone into prison in November, it was now August, and he was fast coming to the idea that Loches was not to be broken out of by the way in which he was attempting to do it.

One circumstance gave him intense delight.  Adele’s hiding place had not been discovered.  This he was sure of by the urgency with which the governor strove to extract from him the secret of her whereabouts.  Their demands were at the last meeting mingled with threats, and Rupert felt that the governor had received stringent orders to wring the truth from him.  So serious did these menaces become that Rupert ceased to labour at the floor of his cell, being assured that ere long some change or other would take place.  He was not mistaken.  One day the governor entered, attended, as usual, by the gaoler and another official.

“Sir,” he said to Rupert, “we can no longer be trifled with.  I have orders to obtain from you the name of the place to which you escorted the young lady you went off with.  If you refuse to answer me, a different system to that which has hitherto been pursued will be adopted.  You will be removed from this comfortable room and placed in the dungeons.  Once there, you must either speak or die, for few men are robust enough to exist there for many weeks.

“I am sorry, sir, but I have my duty to do.  Will you speak, or will you change your room?”

“I will change my room,” Rupert said, quietly.  “I may die; but if by any chance I should ever see the light again, be assured that all Europe shall know how officers taken in war are treated by the King of France.”

The governor shrugged his shoulders, made a sign to the gaoler, who opened the door, and as the governor left four other warders entered the room.  Rupert smiled, he knew that this display of force was occasioned by the fact that his gaoler, entering his room suddenly, had several times caught him balancing the weighty table on his arm or performing other feats which had astounded the Frenchman.  The work at the cell wall had always been done at night.

“I am ready to accompany you,” Rupert said, and without another word followed his conductor downstairs.

Arrived at a level with the yard, another door was unlocked, and the party descended down some stairs, where the cold dampness of the air struck a chill to Rupert’s heart.  Down some forty feet, and then a door was unlocked, and Rupert saw his new abode.  It was of about the same size as the last, but was altogether without furniture.  In one corner, as he saw by the light of a lantern which the gaoler carried, was a stone bench on which was a bundle of straw.  The walls streamed with moisture, and in some places the water stood in shallow pools on the floor; the dungeon was some twelve feet high; eight feet from the ground was a narrow loophole, eighteen inches in height and about three inches wide.  The gaoler placed a pitcher of water and a piece of bread on the bench, and then without a word the party left.