Haydn started in dismay from his seat and stared at his wife without being able to utter a single word. It was something unheard of for him to be disturbed by his wife during his working hours, hence he very naturally concluded that something unusual, something really terrible must have occurred, and the frightened looks of his wife, the pale faces of his servants, plainly told him that he was not mistaken.
“Oh, husband—poor, dear husband!” wailed his wife, “pack up your papers, the time for working and composing is past. Conrad has brought the most dreadful tidings from the city. We are all lost!—Vienna is lost! Oh, dear, dear! it is awful, and I tell you I am almost frightened out of my senses!”
And the old lady, trembling like an aspen-leaf, threw herself into an arm-chair.
“What in Heaven’s name is the matter?” asked Haydn—“what is it that has frightened you thus? Conrad, tell me what is the news?”
“Oh, my dear master,” wailed Conrad, approaching the doctor with folded hands and shaking knees, “it is all up with us! Austria is lost—Vienna is lost—and consequently we are lost, too! Late dispatches have arrived from the army. Ah! what do I say?—army? We have no longer an army—our forces are entirely dispersed—Archduke Charles has lost another battle—old Wurmser has been driven back—and General Bonaparte is advancing upon Vienna.”
“These are sad tidings, indeed,” said Haydn, shrugging his shoulders, “still they are no reason why we should despair. If the archduke has lost a battle—why, all generals have lost battles—”
“Bonaparte never lost one,” replied Conrad, with a profound sigh, “he wins every battle, and devours all countries he wants to conquer.”
“We must pack up our things, Joseph,” said Mrs. Haydn—“we must bury our money, our plate, and especially your jewels and trinkets, so that those French robbers and cannibals will not find them. Come, husband, let us go to work quickly, before they come and take every thing from us.”
“Hush, wife, hush!” said Haydn, mildly, and a gentle smile overspread his features. “Never fear about our few trifles, and do not think that the French just want to come to Vienna for what few gold snuff-boxes and rings I have got. If they were anxious for gold and jewels, coming as they do as enemies, they might simply open the imperial treasury and take there all they want.”
“Yes, but they would not find any thing,” said Conrad. “The treasury is empty, doctor, entirely empty. Every thing is gone; there is not a single crown, not a single precious stone left in the treasury.”