As She Sent For Me To Be Her Dragoman
In All Her Disputes On The Road, You May Conceive How Glad I Was To Arrive
At Turin To Be Rid Of Her.
She put me in mind of Gabrina in the Orlando
Furioso.
We stopped one day at Milan but we were very near being detained
two or three days at Fiacenza owing to an informality in the Baroness's
passport, which had not been vise by the Austrian Legation at Florence. In
vain she pleaded that she was told at the inn at Florence that such visa
was not necessary; the police officer at the Austrian Douane, at a short
distance beyond Piacenza, was inexorable and refused to viser her
passport to allow her to proceed. She was in a sad dilemma and it was
thought we should be obliged to remain at Piacenza. I however recommended
her to be guided by me and not to talk with or scold anybody, and that I
would ensure her arrival at Milan without difficulty, for I had observed
that her scolding the officer at the Douane only served to make him more
obstinate. I recommended her therefore that when we should arrive within
sixty or seventy paces of the gate at Milan, she should get out of the
carriage with her son and walk thro' the gate on foot with the utmost
unconcern as if she belonged to the town and was returning from a
promenade; and that while they stopped us who were in the carriage to
examine our passports, she should walk direct to the inn where we were to
lodge, then write to the Consul of her nation to explain the business.
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