Page:Adventures of Baron Wenceslas Wratislaw of Mitrowitz (1862).djvu/159



it happened that our steward, Ladislaw Mörthen, committed a capital crime, and was confined to his apartment on parole by my lord the ambassador. The Turks had fastened up the door of our house with bolts on the outside, and we also secured it inside, that they might not be able to come to us, if they wished. My lord gave the key of the gate to the clerk of the kitchen, and ordered him to let no one out of, or into, the house without his permission.

Meanwhile the steward, no watch being kept over him, took advantage of the clerk’s going out early in the morning to purchase necessaries, sneaked behind, unexpectedly pushed before him, sprang out into the street, and shouted at the top of his voice that he wished to become a Mussulman. The chiaous who was on guard by our house heard this exclamation with great joy, and immediately conducted the steward to a pasha, and laid before him the intentions of the godless villain.