In this melancholy wise we returned to Luttach, and thus ended my investigation of an unexplored Ukraine cave.
CHAPTER XI.
[FORCED SECLUSION].
I was confined to my lofty bed in my chamber in the inn for three days. The doctor insisted I must stay there with cold compresses upon my foot until the inflammation had entirely disappeared, and then a week at least must be spent in my room with the injured leg stretched out before me, nor could I dream of undertaking any further excursions until two weeks at least had elapsed.
This was a melancholy prospect. Two weeks of imprisonment in the bare, low-ceiled guest-chamber No. 2; while out of doors the sun was shining and calling me to wanderings in the forest and on the mountains. But what cannot be cured must be endured.
I could not complain of ennui. Of society I had more than enough; I sometimes longed to be alone for an hour to reflect upon my remarkable adventures, but I had visitors in unbroken succession, and until late in the evening I was not left for a moment to myself.
All the gentlemen whom I had met about the round table in the dining-room came to testify in the friendliest manner their sympathy, and to beg me to relate my adventures, while Mizka and Frau Franzka by turns saw to my comfort, attending most carefully to the compresses upon my ankle. I could not have been more kindly and attentively cared for than in the Slavonic inn in Ukraine. But it was almost too much of a good thing. Their perpetual attention became burdensome, and the constant stream of visitors wearied me. To tell the same thing over and over again was not very amusing, especially as a number of my auditors--Weber, Gunther, Meyer, Mosic, and the notary, Deitrich--did not seem to give full credence to my story; that is, with regard to my rescue by Franz Schorn. They put all sorts of questions to me with regard to what had passed on the platform of rock, questions which I could not or would not answer, for, of course, I said not a word of the rope's bearing traces of having been cut, although this seemed to be just the very point to which they wished to lead me.
Through the Clerk, Herr Von Einern, I at last learned the reason for their persistent questions. He expressed his indignation at the account which Herr Foligno had given on the evening of our adventure. It was eminently devised to arouse in his hearers a suspicion that in some manner Franz Schorn was to blame for my accident. He did not speak explicitly, but as unwilling to blame Schorn; he would leave that to me, who had sustained the injury; but in speaking thus he had contrived to increase the desire of those present to hear more.
The Captain confirmed his statement, but was indignant not only with Franz Schorn, but with the conduct of the Judge himself. He would not forgive Schorn for accusing Herr Foligno to me, apparently without any reason, while he found the revenge taken by the Judge unworthy and mean. In his opinion there had simply been an unfortunate accident; the rope had been cut by some sharp projection in the rocks; Franz had certainly risked his life to save mine, but this did not justify him in what he had said of the Judge, which made Herr Foligno the direct cause of the fall.
In the end I positively could not tell what to think of the affair. My harassing doubt was corroborated by a visit in the evening from the Judge. He had seen me during the day, but only for a few minutes at a time, to express his sympathy and to ask after my welfare, saying nothing during these short visits concerning my adventure; but in the evening he paid me a longer call, begging permission to bestow his society upon me for a while and to drink his wine in my room instead of in the dining-room below. He settled himself comfortably beside me, informing Mizka and Frau Franzka that he would assume the care of me during the evening and change my compresses. I tried to prevent this, but he would take no refusal, and rendered his services with assiduous precision. It was quite touching to see how careful he was to avoid giving me the least pain, and how he anticipated my every wish.