"At about four o'clock the commandant
came to my hotel, and told me that I
could depart as soon as I wished; but that,
till then, I was to keep my room, guarded by
a policeman, and that I must suffer myself
to be accompanied as far as the frontier
of Baden by a gendarme. I would de-
part, I said, next morning, and wrote a
letter to you, which I requested Fritzchen
to convey to Kate; but, when she
moved to leave the room, she found herself a
prisoner like me. I sent the letter by the
waiter, and had the good fortune to receive
your answer the same evening."

The two ladies were indeed accompanied
by a gendarme, after the manner usual when
any vagabond is brought by "schul" (shore)
over the frontier; a wanton insult against a
woman which might easily have been avoided.
My wife was forbidden to go to Baden without
leave from the Prince of Prussia or the
General von Schreckenstein.

My preparations for escape were ripening.
I had keys and many necessary implements.
Apparently, nothing remained wanting but
the removal of some bars from an unguarded
cellar window. A female friend of mine passing
through Frankfort, had told my wife who
then lived in that town that she would
venture to saw through, during the night,
the iron bars which separated me from
liberty; that she would surely do it for me
when she came back from a certain necessary
journey. My wife, thinking she could do as
much as any other woman, determined at
once to undertake this perilous adventure
herself; but she did not break her intention
to any one; knowing very well that her
parents and friends would have restrained
her from an undertaking, which they would
have called sheer madness. In truth the
undertaking was an extremely dangerous
one; for she would meet with death or
worse, if detected by the Prussians. But
whenever did a true wife reflect on danger,
when a husband could be saved? My wife
forgot not only danger, but many necessary
things also; and, when she left Frankfort,
her plan was but traced in confused
outlines.

Not being permitted to enter the duchy
of Baden in her own character, she set off
at four o'clock, in the afternoon, riding in the
third class, in mean clothes. In the carriage
she met a poor Jewish pedlar woman, who
lived near the Baden frontier, and was on her
journey home. My wife proposed to buy her
basket with everything in it, and also a black,
frontlet to disguise her better; for she desired,
as she said, to make a jest with some of her
friends. The poor woman was very glad to
get rid of her basket and the worsted, on my
wife's promising to replace them, if possible,
to which end she noted the Jew woman's
address.

With this frontlet and basket, my wife
could act the part of a Jewess none the
worse for being the daughter of an Italian,
and having upon her face the rich tints of
the glowing south.

Arrived at a certain station, my wife
stepped out, and met, in a village not far
from Bruchsal, a young man recommended by
Kate as an enthusiastic and trustworthy
admirer of the political prisoners. He was
eagerly willing to be serviceable; but recom-
mended saying nothing of the flight to Kate,
who was a chatterbox; although a very good
girl. He knew some old people who had
a room to spare; and, after having bespoken
everything necessary, my wife went
away to try whether she could get this room.
For a silk neckerchief and a few ribbons she
succeeded.

Then she prepared for action, and set right
her watch-spring saws, and the black wax.
which was to conceal the cuts made in the
bar. The old people of the house went very
soon to bed, and slept soundly when my
wife's young helpmate gave the appointed
signal. She left her room stealthily, and also
the cottage, and met the young man. It was
past ten, and the night dark and rainy—just
such a night as was best adapted for the
execution of her purpose. At about eleven
o'clock the prison was reached, and my
deliverers could hear the regular steps of the
sentries on the wall. The houses now standing
before the entrance of the prison were
then only partly built, and not inhabited at all.
Protected by the darkness of the night, my
wife advanced along a ditch at the foot of the
external wall, till she came to the gate, at
the sides of which were to be seen the
important cellar air-holes. Her companion
remained behind; for she would not involve
him any farther in an enterprise which might
make him unhappy for life.

She began sawing, but this was no easy
work. It was not to be done by her with
those little flexible saws, especially in the
darkness, and agitated as she was. She cut
more deeply into her own fingers than into the
iron bar; and, at last, left off working, and met
her companion; not quite dissatisfied for she
had seen how negligently the house was
guarded, and that it really was possible to
succeed with better implements.

When she returned to Frankfort, she spoke
to the locksmith who had made the keys for
me, and told him what she had been about.
He laughed much, and gave her instructions
how to proceed better with a certain old
saw, which he boasted could cut iron like
wood. Thereafter, my wife spoilt all the bars
in the cellar air-holes in her father's house,
to try whether she could cut them without
noise, and how much time she would want
for her purpose.

Whilst my brave wife thus was employed,
I, to my great vexation, was removed to
another wing of the prison. I succeeded in
carrying away with me my keys, saws, and
other things; but was very much puzzled