you had better go in, and make him listen to reason."

"Who has broken open the door of his room?"

"Nobody; I have opened it myself with the key, as is my duty."

"Yes, the duty of a highway robber, but not of an honest inn-keeper."

Such infamous dealing aroused my indignation, and I made up my mind to
interfere. I enter the room, although I had still my nightcap on, and
inform the gentleman of the cause of the disturbance. He answers with a
laugh that, in the first place, it was impossible to say whether the
person who was in bed with him was a woman, for that person had only been
seen in the costume of a military officer, and that, in the second place,
he did not think that any human being had a right to compel him to say
whether his bed-fellow was his wife or his mistress, even supposing that
his companion was truly a woman.

"At all events," he added, "I am determined not to give one crown to
arrange the affair, and to remain in bed until my door is shut. The
moment I am dressed, I will treat you to an amusing denouement of the
comedy. I will drive away all those scoundrels at the point of my sword."

I then see in a corner a broad sword, and a Hungarian costume looking
like a military uniform. I ask whether he is an officer.

"I have written my name and profession," he answers, "in the hotel book."

Astonished at the absurdity of the inn-keeper, I ask him whether it is
so; he confesses it, but adds that the clergy have the right to prevent