Under the shadow cast by the little shed of the landing-place, which deepened the blue of the limpid water, we very prudently disported ourselves. Madam Cosima and the children wore long white dressing-gowns; she, with her blond hair hanging in braids, seemed like a saint surrounded by cherubs, or even a swan guiding her brood. I, myself, was in a bathing costume, and so I ventured beyond the prescribed limits into the clearer blue and the sunlight, cutting capers, and feeling very flattered by the admiration which my ease and audacity as a swimmer aroused among those who could not leave the shelter. But, when I had gone a little too far away, and a chorus of clear, sweet voices called me back with cries and supplications, then I returned very obediently and stood again in shallow water, and joined with the merry circle in madly splashing the water into the air, laughing with them as it fell again in showers of pearls.
XXX
Alas! we had only a few more days to remain in Lucerne. The opening of the Exposition of Painting was announced and we must be there, in order to fulfil our engagements with the journals to which we had promised our letters.
On one of these last days the weather was dull and stormy, and Madam Cosima and I had stayed under the great pine that the Master was so agile in climbing.
He had gone to his room to work for a time on his study of Beethoven. Madam Cosima was giving me information about Munich, telling me what was best to see there: among other things the gallery of Count von Schack, an original character even more interesting, perhaps, than his collection, which contained, among many daubs, a few fine paintings.
"You will also see my father, and someone who is very dear to him," added she.
As she spoke these words an expression of sadness passed quickly over her face and as quickly disappeared.
"I feel sure," she continued, "that you have no idea for whom your father wrote the 'Symphonie en blanc majeur.' You do not know 'La femme Cygne,' 'La neige Vierge,' 'L'Hostie,' 'La moelle de Roseau,' or who was the original of those delightful portraitures."
"Then there was an original?"