It had been my intention to visit the far-off penal settlements in
Northern Siberia, but having gone through some twenty prisons in
European Russia, my health had failed and I had been compelled to return
to Italy to recuperate. The document had therefore remained in my
possession because I intended to resume my journey in the following
summer. It was in order that I should be permitted to go where I liked,
and to see what I liked without official hindrance, that his Majesty the
Emperor had, at the instigation of the Ministry of the Interior, given
me that most valuable document.
Sight of it had changed the Chief of Police from a burly bully into a
whining coward, for he saw that he had torn up the passport of a guest
of the Czar, and the consequence was most serious if I complained. He
begged of me to pardon him, urging all manner of excuses, and humbling
himself before me as well as before his two inferiors, who now regarded
me with awe.
"I will atone for the insult in any way your high Excellency desires,"
declared the official.
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