3 JUNE

I HAVE NOW DETECTED NEW TRICKERY²⁴⁸ THAT PREDICTS even worse things for me. Today when I went through my suitcase looking for my writing utensils—in case I should get the chance to dispatch a letter—I noticed that all the paper was gone: Everything I had written (save for this one book, which I usually carry on me)—my passport, my letters of recommendation, all my notes for this trip, such as train schedules, hotels, etc.—was taken. It will be even more difficult for me to get back now. Curiously, my money and valuables were untouched, and everything else was exactly as it ought to be.²⁴⁹

My mind raced as I hastened to the closet where my travel clothes were hanging; I hadn’t opened it for days.

Everything was gone—not so much as an umbrella had been left behind!

I stood thunderstruck. How had this happened, and for what purpose? The first thought that came to mind was to hurry to the Count, report the theft, and ask him to take immediate action in pursuit of the thief. But when I considered it further, I thought it wiser not to do so.

No one walks around these rooms without the Count’s knowledge and consent; not even the Tatars would dare commit such brazen theft right under the nose of the Master of the House. I don’t suspect the old blind woman;²⁵⁰ neither she nor the Tatars would bother to take my papers, so long as they’d had a chance to steal other things of greater value. My notecase contains expensive items made of precious silver and crystals; in my pocketbook, there is still a bunch of Austrian banknotes—a true find for greedy fingers—and an exquisite cigar case lies right next to the place where the now stolen papers had been. All of these items have been left undisturbed, and so it can be deduced that this was no ordinary thief wanting to steal from my suitcase, but someone who specifically wished to obtain my letters of recommendation and the other documents I’d had with me during my journey. Someone who didn’t care at all about money or valuables.

I decided to behave as if nothing had happened—but why have these things been stolen?

I doubt that anybody but the Count himself has done this. But it’s hard to understand what he should want with my passport or letters of recommendation, for even if he went to England, he could obtain both these things in his own name.

The purpose can only be to prevent me from getting back home or escaping this place.

Even if I manage to get out of the castle, it will be difficult for me to traverse across Europe in my everyday clothes, and without a passport. I will be considered a fugitive or a vagabond! – – –