What! her journal, so carefully
locked that nobody had ever been allowed to read it, to be at the
mercy of these strange men! Claudia remonstrated loudly. 'They might
have anything else they chose,' she said, 'but that she really could
not give them.' She did not perceive that the more anxious she
appeared about the book, the more important it seemed in their eyes,
and the more anxious they, of course, were to retain it. After a long
discussion, and many prayers and entreaties on Claudia's part, the
books and papers were sealed up before us. They inquired what hotel we
were going to, and told us we must call the next day for our books at
a certain custom-house office they mentioned. Feeling harassed and
persecuted, we proceeded to our hotel, my unhappiness being rendered
more acute by our being separated from our _Murray_, without which I
felt myself a perfectly helpless being, entirely at the mercy of any
one who chose to impose upon me.
We obtained apartments at the hotel we intended lodging at, and as it
was now late in the day, ordered our dinner, and retired early to
rest, very anxious for the morrow, that we might know the fate of our
books. Accordingly, the first thing we did the next day was to take a
gondola, and proceed to the custom-house that had been mentioned to
us. There, however, they knew nothing of our books.
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