“Oh, no, no!” cried Mehul, with emotion; “much more remains to you!”
“Think you so?” asked Gluck, and after a pause continued; “Well—perhaps something better—it is true; for when I freed myself from the fetters of the unworthy and the base, there came to me a radiant and lovely vision, from the pure bright Grecian age. But, believe me, the work of holding it fast, and shaping it in the external world, is my last. And melancholy it is, that a whole vigorous, blooming lifetime could not be consecrated alone to such a theme. But I submit, for I could not do otherwise; and I will bear it, whether these Parisian bawlers adjudge me fame and wealth for my work, or hiss me down.”
The hour struck for the rehearsal; Gluck broke off the discourse, and accompanied by his young friend, went to the Royal Academy of music.
Meanwhile Nicolo Piccini, morose and out of humor, was walking up and down his chamber, from time to time casting a discontented look at the notes of his opera, that lay open on the desk. At times he would walk hastily to the desk as if a lucky thought had struck him, to insert something in the work; but he would let fall the pen before he had touched the paper, shake his head with a dissatisfied and melancholy air, and begin again to walk the room.
There was a knock at the door; Piccini heeded it not; there was a second—a third! At length he went to the door, opened it, and Elias Hegrin entered. Piccini seemed disturbed at sight of him, and asked ungraciously—“What do you want? Why are you here again?”
With his usual sullen smile Elias replied—“The Chevalier Noverre sent me; he said Signor Piccini wished to speak with me.”
Piccini remained a few moments in gloomy silence, as if struggling inwardly; at length he said with a sigh—“It is true; I wished to see you.”
“And in what can I serve my honored patron?”
“By speaking the truth!” replied Piccini, regarding him sternly. “Confess it, Elias Hegrin, you uttered a falsehood, when you told me Gluck stirred up all his friends and acquaintances to make a party against me.”
Elias Hegrin changed color, but he collected himself, and answered—“I spoke the truth.”