Walker-My_Musical_Ex.. - Walter Cosand

IS8 MY MUSICAL EXPERIENCES
My friend (Henselt's niece) had left Berlin, and
gone down to Gorlitz, where she and her husband
and son always spent the summer holidays, in a
country home which the family had owned for more
than one generation. She had seen her uncle, who
had just come to Warmbrunn (not far from Gorlitz),
where he was accustomed to spend from June to
September with his wife; and she had excited his
interest in me by talking to him about me, but still
more, I believe, by showing him a letter in which I
had compared my passion for music to an unrequited
love, which, however it might sadden one, yet one
never could wish it out of one's life. Henselt, read-
ing this letter, wished to see the writer ; and the
letter which the lady of the pension in Berlin handed
me on my arrival there was from Frau Mila, and
enclosed some Imes of Henselt to her, in which,
alluding to me, he thus expressed himself :
' Tell your
friend that if she comes down here, I will help her
with word and deed' ('mit Wort und That'). My
friend urged me not to be tardy in availing myself of
an offer made with such hearty goodwill; and the
whole plan chiming in admirably with my own wishes,
I made no delay in Berlin, but set out the next day
but one after my return thither for Warmbrunn, in
a state of the greatest expectation and delight. It
was pouring in torrents of rain when I reached the
post station in Warmbrunn, and I can vividly recall
the pleasure which I felt when I saw my friend's kind