Walker-My_Musical_Ex.. - Walter Cosand

HENSELT 191
But the day of my departure could not be altered.
Mademoiselle Heinriehsen had arranged to meet me
at St. Petersburg on a given day, and if I put off my
journey she could not have found another leisure time
for ten days at least ; so, to my intense regret, I was
obliged to write and tell the Steinecke-Clarkes that
I could not possibly wait. Meanwhile Henselt had
written me a very long letter, which I was obliged to
ask his niece to decipher, as his handwriting resembled
nothing so much as Egyptian hieroglyphics. His
niece was very much pleased with this proof of her
uncle's cordial interest in me. No father writing to
a daughter about to take a long journey could have
given more minute directions. He omitted nothing
even to an exhortation to avoid much hand-luggage.
He also told me what to do on the frontier, where, he
said, my baggage would be somewhat minutely ex-
amined. He described Mademoiselle Heinriehsen as
' eine hohe Erscheinung .' And then, anticipating all
possibilities, he enclosed me the address of a hotel,
and also a card, addressed to Mademoiselle Hein-
riehsen in the Eussian character, telling her where
she would find me. This, of course, was to provide
for the event of her being unable to meet me.
Before I speak of my arrival at St. Petersburg, I
hope there is no harm in relating what the Steinecke-
Clarkes thought of my journey to Eussia. I had
hardly been a week in St. Petersburg when I received
a long and very interesting letter from Mr. Clarke,
—