I, moreover, related my imprisonment, with a
few comments; and, what crowned all, I said that I had intended to
have gone on from here across the Caucasus to Moscow and
Petersburgh, but that I had been completely deterred from doing so
by my short experience of travelling in the country, and would take
the shortest road to get beyond the frontier as soon as possible.
If I had been a man and had spoken so, I should probably have been
treated with a temporary residence in Siberia.
Herr von Lille, however, always received me with politeness when I
called on him for the purpose of having my passport prepared. The
governor did not treat me with a like consideration; first he put me
off from one day to another, then it pleased the mighty man to pass
two days in the country. When he came back, it was a Sunday; on
which day such a great work could not possibly be done, and so I did
not obtain my passport until the sixth day.
Thus it fared with me, who was provided with letters to the chief
officers,--how do poor people come off? I heard, indeed, that they
are often kept waiting two or three weeks.
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