Page:The Jail, Experiences in 1916.pdf/146

 food from a restaurant. I will not tolerate any wilfulness, just remember that. You will let Fiedler have a list of what you want to eat."

I went no further and remained silent. My stubbornness was broken. For Dušek's theory that it sufficed for a man to eat once a day in the evening did not somehow hold good in my case. Those hams which often used to have the first indications of decadence, the rancid butter, the cheese from which the mouldiness had to be pared away, no, it was not possible, I used to eat only just enough so as not to have a feeling of cold emptiness in my stomach, but at the same time I was continually hungry. If I had got the better of Papritz—the final authority—and had my own way, I should have gone on starving courageously, but as it was,—ye gods, pardon a man for being too much a man, it was more agreeable. When I left Papritz I was quite elated.

And with Mr. Fiedler we arranged a menu for ten days,—soup, meat, an extra dish, a bottle of wine. Coffee in the morning, coffee in the afternoon.

Mr. Kranz by the way, was now bringing me black coffee in the morning and towards evening. This coffee was better than that issued to us, and it was sweetened. I divided it with our batch. Papa Declich mixed his share with the ordinary coffee, added condensed milk, and sipped at it then throughout the day. It was about this time that I was really impressed by Kranz; he probably noticed that I was not well, and when we were returning from exercise, he called me behind the corner of the passage and thrust upon me a small bottle of cognac, real cognac. "Keep your eye on it, or it will get stolen" he advised me with the air of one who knows.

I do not remember ever having eaten more greedily and eagerly, or having enjoyed food so much as that first meal from the restaur-