The Commissary of Police then asked me what business I
was about in travelling, and the following conversation took place: "Was
haben Sie fuer Geschaefte?"--"Keine; ich reise nur um Vergnuegen's Willen."--"
Sonderbar!"--"Worin liegt das Sonderbare, dass man reist um ein schoenes
Land zu sehen?"[20]--He made no answer to this, but one of his coadjutors
standing by him said in a loud whisper, "Ein Herumreiser," which means an
adventurer or person who travels about for no good,--in a word, a
suspicious character. I then said with the utmost calm and indifference:
"Gentlemen, as soon as you shall have finished all your commentaries on the
subject of my passport, pray be so good as to inform me what I am to do,
whether I may go on to Mayence and Frankfort as is my intention, or return
to Bruxelles." The Commissary, after a slight hesitation, signed the _visa_
and I then carried it to the bureau of the Commandant, whose secretary
signed it without hesitation, merely asking me if I were a military man.
In the afternoon I went to visit the Dome or Cathedral. It is a fine
specimen of Gothic architecture, but singular enough the steeple is not yet
finished.
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