were examined before the magistrates on the day of my
arrival in the country, had been given in charge on account of ill health, and
were both condemned to a long term of imprisonment with hard labour; they were
now expiating their offence in this very prison, and their exercise ground was a
yard separated by my fives wall from the garden in which I walked. This
accounted for the sounds of coughing and groaning which I had often noticed as
coming from the other side of the wall; it was high, and I had not dared to
climb it for fear the jailer should see me and think that I was trying to
escape; but I had often wondered what sort of people they could be on the other
side, and had resolved on asking the jailer; but I seldom saw him, and Yram and
I generally found other things to talk about.
    Another month flew by, during which I made such progress in the language
that I could understand all that was said to me, and express myself with
tolerable fluency. My instructor professed to be astonished with the progress I
had made; I was careful to attribute it to the pains he had taken with me and to
his admirable method of explaining my difficulties, so we became excellent
friends.
    My visitors became more and more frequent. Among them there were some, both
men and women, who delighted me entirely by their simplicity, unconsciousness of
self, kindly genial manners, and last, but not least, by their exquisite beauty;
there came others less well-bred, but still comely and agreeable people, while
some were snobs pure and simple.
    At the end of the third month the jailer and my instructor came together to
visit me and told me that communications had been received from the Government
to the effect that if I had behaved well and seemed generally reasonable, and if
there could be no suspicion at all about my bodily health and vigour, and if my
hair was really light, and my eyes blue and complexion fresh, I was to be sent
up at once to the metropolis in order that the King and Queen might see me and
converse with me; but that when I arrived there I should be set at liberty, and
a suitable allowance would be made me. My teacher also told me that one of the
leading merchants had sent me an invitation to repair to his house and to
consider myself his guest for as long a time as I chose. »He is a delightful
man,« continued the interpreter, »but has suffered terribly from« (here there
came a long word which I could not quite