Page:Legends of Rubezahl, and Other Tales (1845).djvu/226

 tunity which presented itself, and withdrawing from the gaol. I was now free, ’twas true; but then came the question, how on earth was I to avoid actual starvation? In this emergency I actually had recourse to begging; but it was a failure. The only people who took any notice of me were the police at Glogau, who, though I did not address them, insisted upon supplying me with food, and lodging, and occupation; but, resenting their impertinence, I got rid of these fellows, though with no small trouble, for they actually followed me for several miles; they could not have been aware that I have ever, on principle, refrained from calling upon the police in any way, knowing how engaged they must be with their public duties. In future I avoided the towns, and rambled over the rural districts like a genuine cosmopolite. As chance would have it, the Countess stopped in the village where I had established my temporary quarters, to have her carriage repaired: mingling in the crowd which forthwith collected to stare at the stranger ladies, I made acquaintance with the oaf of a servant, who told me, in the simplicity of his heart, that he was horribly afraid of you, my Lord Rubezahl; and that this halt for repairs necessitating their crossing the mountains during the night, was a source of the most painful anxiety. This put it into my head to devise how I might turn the timidity of these