I had hoped to be quite ready before you woke, but I had some trouble with my shoes; except for a little water and soap the prison authorities will not provide us poor captives with any means of cleanliness and tidiness, and le bon Dieu does love a tidy body as well as a clean soul.
"But there, there," he added fussily, "I must not continue to gossip like this.

You would like to get up, I know, and refresh your face and hands with a little water.

Oh! you will see how well I have thought it out.

I need not interfere with you at all, and when you make your little bit of toilette, you will feel quite alone...

just as if the old man was not there." He began busying himself about the room, dragging the rickety, rush-bottomed chairs forward.