“Good-bye; I shall lie awake and think of you.”
To Ferdinand Hiller.
“Paris, 8th February 1867.—Dear Hiller,—You are the best of good friends!
“I will do as you bid me; take my courage in both hands, and on the 23rd start for Cologne.
“I shall be at the Hotel Royal by evening, but do not engage rooms for me, one tiny one is enough.
“If I cannot possibly travel, I will send on the orchestral score of the duet from Beatrice. It is very effective and not difficult—almost any singers could manage it, provided they were not geese.
“To be sure, we both have an intimate acquaintance with these winged fowl!
“You talk like the doctors. ‘It is neuralgia.’
“That is just like Madame Sand and her gardener.