"We followed; he opened the door of an ordinary carriage, waved his hand
for us to get in, jumped in himself, and we found we were started back.
We could not cross the line between Germany and Russia.
"We meekly asked where we were to go, and were relieved when we found
that we went back only to the nearest town, but that the passports must
be sent to Konigsberg, sixty miles away, to be endorsed by the Russian
ambassador--it might take some days. W. was very much inclined to refuse
to go back and to attempt a war of words, but it did not seem wise to me
to undertake a war against the Russian government; I know our country
does not lightly go into an 'unpleasantness' of that kind....
"So we went back to Eydkuhnen,--a little miserable German village. We
took rooms at the only hotel, and there we stayed twenty-four hours.
Before the end of that time, we had visited every shop in the village,
and aired our German to most of our fellow-travellers whom we met at the
hotel.
"The landlord took our part, and declared it was hard enough on simple
travellers like ourselves to be stopped in such a way, and that Russia
was the only country in Europe which was rigid in that respect. Happily,
our passports were back in twenty-four hours, and we started again; our
trunks had been registered for St. Petersburg, and to St. Petersburg
they had gone, ahead of us; and of the small heap of things thrown down
promiscuously at the custom-house, the whole had not come back to us--it
was not very important.
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