“She silenced me with a stamp of her pretty foot.
“‘Why did you not go to my house,’ she exclaimed; ‘do you wish to act your message here in the theatre? Oh, for a truth, this old man would play the father to all the lost children in Vienna!’
“‘Christine,’ said I, ‘God forgive you for that saying. I have come far to bring a message to you; but I can go back as I have come if you have no wish to hear me.’
“I knew that this would play upon her curiosity, and I was right.
“‘You have come from Jézero?’ she asked quickly.
“‘Certainly,’ said I; ‘and to Jézero I will go again at a word from you.’
“It was astonishing, excellency, to observe the effect of these few words upon her. All the colour left her face; I could see that she had begun to tremble.
“‘Come,’ she said presently, ‘we will go to my house, and you shall tell me your message as we ride.’
“A few moments later I was in her carriage with her—the first time in my life I had ever set foot in a carriage. I saw that those upon the pavements stopped to watch us as we passed, and that few men did not turn to look again at the little singer whose name was upon everyone’s lips.
“‘Christine,’ said I, ‘this is indeed the day of my life. That I should come to Vienna to hear such things, and to ride with you in your own carriage!’