Page:The Jail, Experiences in 1916.pdf/44

 But it is supposed to be certain that he is a postal official at Brno.

Yes, they say that too.

And what did I think of the arrest of Dr. Kramář?

I told him. That his imprisonment was a dreadful mistake. That it was felt by the whole nation. That there is no policy more brainless than the one which manufactures martyrs for a discontented nation. That now we were asked to forget century-old traditions. Traditions,—not our own—but Austrian, purely Austrian. That the lands of the Bohemian crown were the scene of the wars waged by Frederick the Great and of the year 1866. That by a more moderate policy in the Balkans, Austria might have become a rallying point for all the nations and states there, that the Austrian Emperor could then have boldly laid hands upon the old crown of the Eastern Roman Empire,—on Constantinople,—on the route to Asia Minor, to Bagdad—

It was getting on for 10 o'clock when I parted from the student of my lecture.

A warm summer night, a sky full of stars.

So not today. When? When? I had an infallible foreboding that this sword of Damocles must sooner or later descend.

 

Days elapsed, weeks elapsed.

And in one of those weeks it happened that the post became silent as far as I was concerned. No papers arrived, letters did not come, nothing. Then again a day came and the precious post put