Prisoner (quietly): ‘From Lord Palmerston.’
General (glancing at that Minister’s signature): ‘It says here, “et son domestique”—you have no domestique.’
Prisoner (calmly): ‘Pardon me, I have a domestic.’
General (with severity), ‘Where is he?’
Prisoner: ‘At Dresden by this time, I hope.’
General (receiving journal from aide-de-camp, who points to a certain page): ‘You state here you were caught by the Austrians in a pretended escape from the Viennese insurgents; and add, “They evidently took me for a spy” [returning journal to aide]. What is your explanation of this?’
Prisoner (shrugging shoulders disdainfully): ‘In the first place, the word “pretended” is not in my journal. In the second, although of course it does not follow, if one takes another person for a man of sagacity or a gentleman—it does not follow that he is either—still, when—’
General (with signs of impatience): ‘I have here a Passierschein, found amongst your papers and signed by the rebels. They would not have given you this, had you not been on friendly terms with them. You will be detained until I have further particulars.’
Prisoner (angrily): ‘I will assist you, through Her Britannic Majesty’s Consul, with whom I claim the right to communicate. I beg to inform you that I am neither a spy nor a socialist, but the son of an English peer’ (heaven help the relevancy!). ‘An Englishman has yet to learn that Lord Palmerston’s signature is to be set at naught and treated with contumacy.’
The General beckoned to the inspector to put an end to the proceedings. But the aide, who had been studying the journal, again placed it in his chief’s hands. A colloquy ensued, in which I overheard the name of Lord Ponsonby. The enemy seemed to waver, so I charged with a renewed request to see the English Consul. A pause; then some remarks in Russian from the aide; then the General (in suaver tones): ‘The English Consul, I find, is absent on a month’s leave. If what you state is true, you acted unadvisedly in not having your passport altered and revisé when you parted with your servant. How long do you wish to remain here?’