Page:The Jail, Experiences in 1916.pdf/64

 such occasions, and as he was a German, the language spoken must be German. And such a superintendent often proceeded to Bohemia, either to hold a cross-examination, or to carry out a domiciliary search, or else to fetch back more malefactors, it was desirable that the visitors should apply in writing to know the day and hour when he could come.

A warder opened the door. It was Sergeant Sponner, of whom Dušek told me that he barked but did not bite; he called out my name. It was for my cross-examination.

I went.

 

A defence-corps man in front of me, a defence-corps man behind me, both equipped with old Werndl rifles, we walked solemnly along the middle of the street. We went from the Blindengasse, the street of the sightless, where the military tribunal held its sittings, to the Tigergasse, the street of Tigers, the headquarters of the military legal authorities. The genius loci is fond of making such unintentional jests.

The sun was still shining. But it was not the sun from which l had parted in the morning, it was a strange sun which somebody has put in the sky in the place of the beloved sun we know so well, and strange are its light and its warmth. Even these familiar streets have a stranger appearance, and the people passing through them are not Viennese, but natives of heaven knows what town. And finally, I myself, am I myself? And is this not all a repulsive dream? Two young ladies stood on the pavement and looked at us inquisitively.