The conversation was broken off by the entrance of the pretty Maschinka Schneider. Francilla welcomed her friend with joy; and the two ladies talked of the representation of the Capuletti, which was to be repeated in a few days. I was consulted respecting the arrangements in the burial vault, and had many thanks for my excellent advice about the Romeo of Francilla and the Giulietta of Maschinka.
When, in taking leave, I kissed the hand of my little friend, she whispered me earnestly that I must think of what she had told me. I did think of it when, a year afterwards, I read in the newspapers that Malibran had died on the 23d of September at Manchester; the same day on which, a year before, the death of Bellini had taken place.
FOOTNOTES:
[14] The reader is advised to follow the counsel of Pixis. Bellini was always in love, it is true; but we have no reason to believe Malibran was ever the object of his passion.—Trans.
LOVE VERSUS TASTE.[15]
CHAPTER I.
In the summer of 1825, it happened that a young man, whom we shall simply call Louis, a musician by profession, arrived in Berlin. He had long wished to visit this city; its advancement in art, its gifted men, the cultivation and taste of its citizens generally, were no slight attractions for the artist and student. It was his rule to neglect no opportunity of hearing anything good; so that he usually visited the opera every evening.
One day soon after his arrival in Berlin, passing the opera house, he saw a man fastening a fresh bill to a column of the building. He waited to read it; it announced the sudden illness of one of the singers, on which account the evening’s entertainment was to be changed. Instead of the Otello of Rossini, Don Giovanni was to be performed.
While Louis stood, attentively reading the bill, he heard a soft female voice close to him say, “Ah! I am so glad of that!” He turned quickly, and saw a beautiful young girl, who had noticed the bill in passing by. When she caught the young man’s look, she blushed, and turning away her head, walked hastily on. Louis stood gazing after her; the tones of her rich voice had charmed him, but much more her slender, elegant, and graceful figure, and the lovely face of which he had caught a brief glimpse. Unacquainted with the ways of young men in large cities, he did not follow her, but stood looking till she vanished from his sight, and then went thoughtfully towards his lodgings.
Suddenly the idea struck him, she will of course be at the opera to-night! and he resolved to do what he had never done before, observe the ladies particularly.