Walker-My_Musical_Ex.. - Walter Cosand

HENSELT 189
at the villa, and was shown in while he and his wife
were sitting at breakfast. One could see that Frau
von Henselt was much moved, notwithstanding her
firm self-control. She must have felt that I under-
stood her, and she pressed my hand in silence, and
took the opportunity of his Excellency rising for a
moment to ask the servant some question about a
parcel, to whisper to me, ' Have I not great courage ?'
After a minute or two I heard noises outside, and
perceiving that '
a group of friends was coming up
to the door, I thought that it was high time for
me to depart. But the bouquet, there it was, still
in my hand ; I had not the least idea in what way
I was expected to present it. I rose, therefore, to
take leave, and would have laid it down on the
table and gone away without saying any more, but
the Meister had, I suppose, noticed my embarrass-
ment, and came to my rescue by saying, 'Nun, mein
Kind, reichen Sie mir doch das Bouquet.' Then the
old couple wished me good-bye in the most affectionate
manner, and I left the villa.
I went up to Berlin from Warmbrunn, and spent a
few days in providing myself with all I could possibly
need for ' a winter in the north.' Henselt' s niece (my
friend) and I talked by the hour about all that I was
to see and find there ; and on the night I left for St.
Petersburg she put round my neck a pretty little
snow-white fleecy muffler, which was the work of her
own hands. She also put into my hand-bag a nice