AN OUTLAW’S DIARY
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
Crown 8vo. 6s. net. each
- THE OLD HOUSE: A Novel
- STONECROP: A Novel
Published by
PHILIP ALLAN & CO.
THE AUTHOR IN HER STUDY.
(Frontispiece.)
AN OUTLAW’S
DIARY:
REVOLUTION
By
CECILE TORMAY
WITH A FOREWORD BY
THE DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND
LONDON:
PHILIP ALLAN & CO.
QUALITY COURT
First published in 1923
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY W. JOLLY AND SONS, LTD., ABERDEEN.
TO
A GENTLE VICTIM
OF THE REVOLUTION
MY UNFORGETTABLE MOTHER
I DEDICATE THIS
BOOK
It was fate that dubbed this book An Outlaw’sDiary, for it was itself outlawed at a timewhen threat of death was hanging over everyvoice that gave expression to the sufferings ofHungary. It was in hiding constantly, fleeingfrom its parental roof to lonely castles, to provincialvillas, to rustic hovels. It was in hidingin fragments, between the pages of books, underthe eaves of strange houses, up chimneys, in therecesses of cellars, behind furniture, buried inthe ground. The hands of searching detectives,the boots of Red soldiers, have passed over it.It has escaped miraculously, to stand as amemento when the graves of the victims itdescribes have fallen in, when grass has grownover the pits of its gallows, when the writingsin blood and bullets have disappeared from thewalls of its torture chambers.
And now that I am able to send the bookforth in print, I am constrained to omit manyfacts and many details which as yet cannotstand the light of day, because they are thesecrets of living men. The time will comewhen that which is dumb to-day will be atliberty to raise its voice. And as some timehas now passed since I recorded, from day today, these events, much that was obscure andincomprehensible has been cleared up. Yet Iwill leave the pages unrevised, I will leave thepulsations of those hours untouched. If I havebeen in the wrong, I pray the reader’s indulgence.My very errors will mirror the errors ofthose days.
Here is no attempt to write the history of arevolution, nor is this the di