Spain | Page 6

copy of my petition for his chief. I
promised he should have it, and I also sent a copy of my manifesto. The
only thing which rather interfered with the dignity of this latter piece,
and gave it a somewhat comic air, were the four Latin verses, which
might make people imagine that, after enjoying the girl as Hebe, I had
gone in search of her as Ganymede. This was not the case, but the

empress understood Latin and was familiar with mythology, and if she
had looked on it in the light I have mentioned I should have been
undone. I made six copies of the two documents before I went to bed; I
was quite tired out, but the exertion had somewhat soothed me. At noon
the next day, young Hasse (son of the chapel-master and of the famous
Trustina), secretary of legation to Count Vitzthum, came to tell me
from the ambassador that nobody would attack me in my own house,
nor in my carriage if I went abroad, but that it would be imprudent to
go out on foot. He added that his chief would have the pleasure of
calling on me at seven o'clock. I begged M. Hasse to let me have all
this in writing, and after he had written it out he left me.
Thus the order to leave Vienna had been suspended; it must have been
done by the sovereign.
"I have no time to lose," said I to myself, "I shall have justice done me,
my assassins will be condemned, my purse will be returned with the
two hundred ducats in it, and not in the condition in which it was
shewn to me by the infamous Schrotembach, who will be punished by
dismissal, at least."
Such were my castles in Spain; who has not built such? 'Quod nimis
miseri volunt hoc facile credunt', says Seneca. The wish is father to the
thought.
Before sending my manifesto to the empress, Prince Kaunitz, and to all
the ambassadors, I thought it would be well to call on the Countess of
Salmor, who spoke to the sovereign early and late. I had had a letter of
introduction for her.
She greeted me by saying that I had better give up wearing my arm in a
sling, as it looked as ii I were a charlatan; my arm must be well enough
after nine months.
I was extremely astonished by this greeting, and replied that if it were
not necessary I should not wear a sling, and that I was no charlatan.
"However," I added, "I have come to see you on a different matter."

"Yes, I know, but I will have nothing to do with it. You are all as bad as
Tomatis."
I gave a turn round and left the room without taking any further notice
of her. I returned home feeling overwhelmed by the situation. I had
been robbed and insulted by a band of thorough-paced rascals; I could
do nothing, justice was denied me, and now I had been made a mock of
by a worthless countess. If I had received such an insult from a man I
would have soon made him feel the weight of one arm at all events. I
could not bear my arm without a sling for an hour; pain and swelling
set in immediately. I was not perfectly cured till twenty months after
the duel.
Count Vitzthum came to see me at seven o'clock. He said the empress
had told Prince Kaunitz that Schrotembach considered my narrative as
pure romance. His theory was that I had held a bank at faro with
sharpers' cards, and had dealt with both hands the arm in the sling being
a mere pretence. I had then been taken in the act by one of the
gamesters, and my unjust gains had been very properly taken from me.
My detector had then handed over my purse, containing forty ducats, to
the police, and the money had of course been confiscated. The empress
had to choose between believing Schrotembach and dismissing him;
and she was not inclined to do the latter, as it would be a difficult
matter to find him a successor in his difficult and odious task of
keeping Vienna clear of human vermin.
"This is what Prince Kaunitz asked me to tell you. But you need not be
afraid of any violence, and you can go when you like."
"Then I am to be robbed of two hundred ducats with impunity. The
empress might at least reimburse me if she does nothing more. Please
to ask the prince whether I can ask the sovereign to give me that
satisfaction; the least I can demand."
"I will tell him what you say."
"If not, I shall leave; for what can