‘You pretend that your return had no other object than that of revisiting your native land; but when after 1831 the Emperor granted an amnesty, why did you not avail yourself of it?’
‘I do not wish to say anything that might be displeasing to your Excellency, but at the same time the manner in which this amnesty was drawn up was not of the nature to encourage us. Furthermore, the amnesty only applied to subjects of the kingdom, the inhabitants of the detached and outlying provinces were deprived of it; and to conclude, before asking pardon, one must feel that one has been guilty.’
‘Who gave you that English passport?’
‘I found it in the street.’
‘You spent more than a month in Hungary; you see that I am well informed about you. Why did you go there?’
‘To make my traces more difficult to follow, and to shorten the journey.’
‘Oh! but you had some other reasons; you are a member of the Democratic Society.’
‘I once formed a part of it, but I have withdrawn from it a long time ago.’
‘You are an emissary of that society?’
‘No.’