ided their discourse
as much as possible; but I wanted the sympathy of some fellow creature,
and the barbarity of my keepers had even denied me my dog. The labour
was hard and oppressive, my body weak; I wanted assistance, and, if I
must speak out, I wanted compassion also, and this I was forced to
purchase with the last remains of my conscience. Thus did I ultimately
become inured to what was most detestable, and in the quarter of the
year I had surpassed my instructors.

"I now thirsted after the day of liberty, as I thirsted after revenge.
All men had offended me, for all were better and happier than me. I
considered myself the martyr of natural rights, the victim of the law.
Grinding my teeth, I rubbed my chains, when the sun rose behind the
mountain on which the fortification stood;--a wide prospect is a
two-fold hell for a prisoner. The free breeze that whistled through
the loop-holes of my tower, the swallow that perched on the iron bar of
my grating, seemed to insult me with their liberty, and made my
confinement the more hideous. Then I swore a fierce, unconquerable
hate against all that resembles man, and faithfully have I kept my oath.

"My first thought, as soon as I was free, was my native town. Little
as I had to hope there for my future support, much was promised to my
hunger for revenge. My heart beat more wildly as I saw the
church-steeple rise in the distance from the wood. It was no more that
heartfelt comfort, which I felt, when first I returned thither. The
remembrance of all the afflictions, all the persecutions which I had
suffered then roused me at once from a frightful torpor; every wound
bled afresh, every scar was opened. I quickened my steps, for I walked
in the thought of terrifying my enemy by my sudden appearance, and I
now thirsted as much after new humiliation as I had before trembled at
it.

"The bells were ringing for vespers, while I stood in the middle of the
market. The congregation was thronging to church. I was now
recognised, and every one who came near me shyly shrank back. I was
always very fond of little children, and even now, by an involuntary
impulse, I gave a groschen to a boy who was skipping by me. The boy
stared at me for a moment, and then flung the groschen into my face.
Had my blood been cooler I should have remembered that the beard, which
I had brought with me from the fortification, disfigured my face in the
most frightful manner, but my bad heart