seen him enter the town, or walk along the street.

In this connection, let me remind your excellency of the
discrepancy in the statements of the servant, Franz Bauer, and of
the two peasants. The former is certain the man entered the inn
yard from the street; the latter are just as positive that he did
not. Your excellency, I do not like such puzzles, for I am sure
that all three were telling the truth to the best of their
knowledge. They are ignorant common folk, I admit, but they
should know what they did or did not see.

After I got the prisoner into safekeeping, I fell to examining his
papers, and I can assure your excellency that they gave me a shock.
I had paid little heed to his ravings about the King of France
being dethroned, or about this General Bonaparte who called himself
the Emperor Napoleon, but I found all these things mentioned in his
papers and dispatches, which had every appearance of being official
documents. There was repeated mention of the taking, by the French,
of Vienna, last May, and of the capitulation of the Austrian
Emperor to this General Bonaparte, and of battles being fought all
over Europe, and I don't know what other fantastic things. Your
excellency, I have heard of all sorts of madmen--one believing
himself to be the Archangel Gabriel, or Mohammed, or a werewolf,
and another convinced that his bones are made of glass, or that he
is pursued and tormented by devils--but so help me God, this is the
first time I have heard of a madman who had documentary proof for
his delusions! Does your excellency wonder, then, that I want no
part of this business?

But the matter of his credentials was even worse. He had papers,
sealed with the seal of the British Foreign Office, and to every
appearance genuine--but they were signed, as Foreign Minister, by
one George Canning, and all the world knows that Lord Castlereagh
has been Foreign Minister these last five years. And to cap it
all, he had a safe-conduct, sealed with the seal of the Prussian
Chancellery--the very seal, for I compared it, under a strong
magnifying glass, with one that I knew to be genuine, and they
were identical!--and yet, this letter was signed, as Chancellor,
not by Count von Berchtenwald, but by Baron Stein, the Minister of
Agriculture, and the signature, as far as I could see, appeared to
be genuine! This is too much for me, your excellency; I must ask
to be excused from dealing with this matter, before I become as
mad