The Life and Adventures of Baron Trenck-1 [31]
or, if you please, this emulation, has, however, taught me to vanquish a thousand difficulties, under which others of cooler passions and more temperate desires would have sunk. May my example remain a warning; and thus may my sufferings become somewhat profitable to the world, cruel as they have been to myself! Cruel they were, and cruel they must continue; for the wounds I have received are not, will not, cannot be healed.
Feb. 23.--From Schmiegel to Rakonitz, and from thence to Karger Holland, four miles and a half. Here we sold, to prevent dying of hunger, a shirt and Schell's waistcoat for eighteen grosch, or nine schostacks. I had shot a pullet the day before, which necessity obliged us to eat raw. I also killed a crow, which I devoured alone, Schell refusing to taste. Youth and hard travelling created a voracious appetite, and our eighteen grosch were soon expended.
Feb. 24.--We came through Benzen to Lettel, four miles. Here we halted a day, to learn the road to Hammer, in Brandenburg, where my sister lived. I happened luckily to meet with the wife of a Prussian soldier who lived at Lettel, and belonged to Kolschen, where she was born a vassal of my sister's husband. I told her who I was, and she became our guide.
Feb. 26.--To Kurschen and Falkenwalde.
Feb. 27.--Through Neuendorf and Oost, and afterwards through a pathless wood, five miles and a half to Hammer, and here I knocked at my sister's door at nine o'clock in the evening.
CHAPTER VIII.
A maidservant came to the door, whom I knew; her name was Mary, and she had been born and brought up in my father's house. She was terrified at seeing a sturdy fellow in a beggar's dress; which perceiving, I asked, "Molly, do not you know me?" She answered, "No;" and I then discovered myself to her. I asked whether my brother-in-law was at home. Mary replied, "Yes; but he is sick in bed." "Tell my sister, then," said I, "that I am here." She showed me into a room, and my sister presently came.
She was alarmed at seeing me, not knowing that I had escaped from Glatz, and ran to inform her husband, but did not return.
A quarter of an hour after the good Mary came weeping, and told us her master commanded us to quit the premises instantly, or he should be obliged to have us arrested, and delivered up as prisoners. My sister's husband forcibly detained her, and I saw her no more.
What my feelings must be, at such a moment, let the reader imagine. I was too proud, too enraged, to ask money; I furiously left the house, uttering a thousand menaces against its inhabitants, while the kind-hearted Mary, still weeping, slipped three ducats into my hand, which I accepted.
And, now behold us once more in the wood, which was not above a hundred paces from the house, half dead with hunger and fatigue, not daring to enter any habitation, while in the states of Brandenburg, and dragging our weary steps all night through snow and rain, until our guide at length brought us back, at daybreak, once again to the town of Lettel.
She herself wept in pity at our fate, and I could only give her two ducats for the danger she had run; but I bade her hope more in future; and I afterwards sent for her to Vienna, in 1751, where I took great care of her. She was about fifty years of age, and died my servant in Hungary, some weeks before my unfortunate journey to Dantzic, where I fell into my enemies' hands, and remained ten years a prisoner at Magdeburg.
We had scarcely reached the wood, before, in the anguish of my heart, I exclaimed to Schell, "Does not such a sister, my friend, deserve I should fire her house over her head?" The wisdom of moderation, and calm forbearance, was in Schell a virtue of the highest order; he was my continual mentor; my guide, whenever my choleric temperament was disposed to violence. I therefore honour his ashes; he deserved a better fate.
"Friend," said he, on this occasion, "reflect that your sister may be innocent, may be withheld by her husband; besides, should the King discover we had entered her doors, and
Feb. 23.--From Schmiegel to Rakonitz, and from thence to Karger Holland, four miles and a half. Here we sold, to prevent dying of hunger, a shirt and Schell's waistcoat for eighteen grosch, or nine schostacks. I had shot a pullet the day before, which necessity obliged us to eat raw. I also killed a crow, which I devoured alone, Schell refusing to taste. Youth and hard travelling created a voracious appetite, and our eighteen grosch were soon expended.
Feb. 24.--We came through Benzen to Lettel, four miles. Here we halted a day, to learn the road to Hammer, in Brandenburg, where my sister lived. I happened luckily to meet with the wife of a Prussian soldier who lived at Lettel, and belonged to Kolschen, where she was born a vassal of my sister's husband. I told her who I was, and she became our guide.
Feb. 26.--To Kurschen and Falkenwalde.
Feb. 27.--Through Neuendorf and Oost, and afterwards through a pathless wood, five miles and a half to Hammer, and here I knocked at my sister's door at nine o'clock in the evening.
CHAPTER VIII.
A maidservant came to the door, whom I knew; her name was Mary, and she had been born and brought up in my father's house. She was terrified at seeing a sturdy fellow in a beggar's dress; which perceiving, I asked, "Molly, do not you know me?" She answered, "No;" and I then discovered myself to her. I asked whether my brother-in-law was at home. Mary replied, "Yes; but he is sick in bed." "Tell my sister, then," said I, "that I am here." She showed me into a room, and my sister presently came.
She was alarmed at seeing me, not knowing that I had escaped from Glatz, and ran to inform her husband, but did not return.
A quarter of an hour after the good Mary came weeping, and told us her master commanded us to quit the premises instantly, or he should be obliged to have us arrested, and delivered up as prisoners. My sister's husband forcibly detained her, and I saw her no more.
What my feelings must be, at such a moment, let the reader imagine. I was too proud, too enraged, to ask money; I furiously left the house, uttering a thousand menaces against its inhabitants, while the kind-hearted Mary, still weeping, slipped three ducats into my hand, which I accepted.
And, now behold us once more in the wood, which was not above a hundred paces from the house, half dead with hunger and fatigue, not daring to enter any habitation, while in the states of Brandenburg, and dragging our weary steps all night through snow and rain, until our guide at length brought us back, at daybreak, once again to the town of Lettel.
She herself wept in pity at our fate, and I could only give her two ducats for the danger she had run; but I bade her hope more in future; and I afterwards sent for her to Vienna, in 1751, where I took great care of her. She was about fifty years of age, and died my servant in Hungary, some weeks before my unfortunate journey to Dantzic, where I fell into my enemies' hands, and remained ten years a prisoner at Magdeburg.
We had scarcely reached the wood, before, in the anguish of my heart, I exclaimed to Schell, "Does not such a sister, my friend, deserve I should fire her house over her head?" The wisdom of moderation, and calm forbearance, was in Schell a virtue of the highest order; he was my continual mentor; my guide, whenever my choleric temperament was disposed to violence. I therefore honour his ashes; he deserved a better fate.
"Friend," said he, on this occasion, "reflect that your sister may be innocent, may be withheld by her husband; besides, should the King discover we had entered her doors, and