“Do not speak of a concert in Paris.
“If I gave one to my friends and spent three thousand francs over it I should only be the more reviled by the press.
“After seeing you I shall go right on to St Symphorien and thence to Monaco to roll in the violets and sleep in the sun.
“I suffer so continually, dear lady; my paroxysms of pain are so frequent that I cannot think what is to become of me.
“I do not want to die now, for I have something to live for.”[35]
To Wladimir Stassoff.
“Paris, 1st March 1868.—I did not write sooner, I was too ill. And now I want to tell you that I am leaving for Monaco at seven this evening.
“I cannot imagine why I do not die.
“But since I am living, I am going to see my dear Nice, the rocks of Villefranche and the sun of Monaco.
“I hear that the sculptor is having three copies of my New York bust cast; was it you who suggested getting one for the St Petersburg Conservatoire? More can easily be made.