belong to a sort of shed. In front and to the right there are
windowless walls; to the left, at a little distance, I can see a
slender church spire, greenish in colour, probably covered with
copper, and before the church there are two poplar trees of
different heights.

"Another day has passed, a day of torturing fear! Am I really
insane? I know that I see queer things. This morning I looked
towards the window and I saw a parrot sitting there! I saw it quite
plainly. It ruffled up its red and green feathers and stared at me.
I stared back at it and suddenly it was gone. I shivered. Finally
I pulled myself together and went to the window. There was no bird
outside nor was there a trace of any in the snow on the window sill.
Could the wind have blown away the tracks so soon, or was it really
my sick brain that appeared to see this tropical bird in the midst
of the snow? It is Tuesday to-day; from now on I will carefully
count the days - the days that still remain to me.

"This morning I asked the old woman about the parrot. She only
smiled and her smile made me terribly afraid. The thought that this
thing which is happening to me, this thing that I took to be a crime,
may be only a necessity - the thought fills me with horror! Am I in
a prison? or is this the cell of an insane asylum? Am I the victim
of a villain? or am I really mad? My pulse is quickening, but my
memory is quite clear; I can look back over every incident in my life.

"She has just taken away my food. I asked her to bring me only eggs
as I was afraid of everything else. She promised that she would do it.

"Are they looking for me? My guardian is Theodore Fellner, Cathedral