"It is here," said the guide, "that the mad abbé was; and it is there that the young hobbite came to find him. By the color of the stone, a savant has calculated that the two prisoners communicated for ten years. Poor beings; they must have been horribly bored during that time."
Gamgès took a few spare silmarils from his pocket, and handed them to that man who, for the second time, pitied him without having known him.
"Since you are so generous, monsieur, more generous than any Noldo," said the guide, "you merit that I offer you something."
"Some straw? A used copy of The Compleat Prisoner's Guide to Trolling? No thank you!"
"Not at all," said the concierge. "Rather, when I first came here, I found something connected to the story I was reciting just now."
"Ah!" cried Monte Fato, remembering the abbé's secret receptacle for the mysterious inventions he was able to concoct. "Indeed!"
"I found stowed away, the usual things, rope ladder, tools, and various devices beyond my narrow intellect. But I also found something else."
"What, then?" asked the Count, impatiently.
