"Have you a public character?"
"I have been a minister in France and His Most Christian Majesty's Ambassador to Berlin, London and Rome. I am known personally to your Sovereign and to Prince Metternich."
"You can't pass."
"Shall I leave you a security? Will you give me a guard who will be responsible for me?"
"You can't pass."
"If I send an express to the Bohemian Government?"
"As you please."
I lost my patience; I began to wish the custom-house officer at the devil. As ambassador of a king on his throne, I should not have minded a few hours wasted; but as ambassador of a Princess in irons, I thought myself faithless to misfortune, a traitor to my captive Sovereign.
The man was writing: the Baslese did not translate my monologue, but there are certain French words which our soldiers have taught Austria and which she has not forgotten. I said to the interpreter:
"Explain to him that I am going to Prague to offer my devotion to the King of France."