When All Was In Order For Our Departure We Walked Down To The
Precincts Of The Quarantine Establishment, And Here Awaited Us A
"Compromised" {1} Officer Of The Austrian Government, Who Lives In
A State Of Perpetual Excommunication.
The boats, with their
"compromised" rowers, were also in readiness.
After coming in contact with any creature or thing belonging to the
Ottoman Empire it would be impossible for us to return to the
Austrian territory without undergoing an imprisonment of fourteen
days in the odious lazaretto. We felt, therefore, that before we
committed ourselves it was important to take care that none of the
arrangements necessary for the journey had been forgotten; and in
our anxiety to avoid such a misfortune, we managed the work of
departure from Semlin with nearly as much solemnity as if we had
been departing this life. Some obliging persons, from whom we had
received civilities during our short stay in the place, came down
to say their farewell at the river's side; and now, as we stood
with them at the distance of three or four yards from the
"compromised" officer, they asked if we were perfectly certain that
we had wound up all our affairs in Christendom, and whether we had
no parting requests to make. We repeated the caution to our
servants, and took anxious thought lest by any possibility we might
be cut off from some cherished object of affection:- were they
quite sure that nothing had been forgotten - that there was no
fragrant dressing-case with its gold-compelling letters of credit
from which we might be parting for ever?
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