"Where shall I drive, your lordship?" asked the hackman, lifting his whip to rouse the weary nags from their half slumber.
"Where? I don't know myself, my friend," replied the old man, sighing. "I only want to ride about a little while to rest my poor old limbs and get some fresh air. So take me through the busiest streets in Vienna, that I may see them. I am a stranger who has seen little of your capital, because his weary limbs will not carry him far. So drive very slowly, at a walk, that I may see and admire everything--so slowly that if I liked anything especially, and wanted to get out, I could do so without stopping the vehicle."
"Then your lordship does not want to drive by the trip, but by the hour?"
"Yes, my friend, by the hour, and here are four florins in prepayment for two hours. You'll have no occasion to trouble yourself now, but drive as slowly as possible and your horses will be able to rest. So go on through the busiest streets, and at a walk."
"Well, that will suit my poor beasts," said the driver, laughing, "they have already been standing for six hours, and stiff enough from it."
He touched his horses' backs with the are whip, and the animals started.
The carriage now rolled on slowly, like a hearse, at the pace drivers usually take when they wish to notify pedestrians that they have no occupant in their vehicles and can receive a passenger. So no one noticed the slow progress of the carriage; no one in the crowded streets through which it passed heeded it. Yet many a person might have been interested if he could have cast a glance within.
Something strange and unusual was certainly occurring inside the hack. No sooner had it started than Baron von Moudenfels hastily raised both the side windows and pulled down the little curtains of dark red silk. No curious eyes could now look in at him, and he could fearlessly devote himself to his occupations, which he did with perfect composure and unconcern. First, he drew from the back pocket of his coat a package wrapped in paper, which he unrolled, placing its contents on the back seat. These consisted of a wig of short fair hair, a mustache of the same color, and two little boxes containing red, white, and black paints. Then the baron took from his breast-pocket another package, which he unwrapped and produced a mirror, brushes and combs.