y some five feet from the ground, and the necessity of throwing
the Signora out of it under the circumstances was quite indisputable,
still he felt very anxious as to the results, inasmuch as she had given
him to understand that he was 'about to be a father.' He was almost
afraid to make any inquiries, and was not a little surprised, some
eight months afterwards, to receive an affectionate letter from his
beloved wife, in which she did not say a syllable about the little
circumstance which had occurred at the country _palazzo_, but announced
that she was the happy mother of a charming little daughter, and prayed
the '_marito amato e padre felicissimo_' to come as quickly as he could
to Venice. However, Krespel didn't go, but made inquiries through a
trusted friend as to what had happened. He was told that the Signora
had dropped down on to the grass as lightly as a bird, and the only
results of her fall were mental ones. The Signora had been like a new
creature after Krespel's heroic achievement. All her wilfulness and
charming caprices had disappeared completely; and the _maestro_ who
wrote the music for the next Carnival considered himself the luckiest
man under the sun; inasmuch as the Signora sang all his arias without
one of the thousand alterations which, in ordinary circumstances, she
would have insisted on his making in them. Krespel's friend added that
it was most desirable to give no publicity to what had occurred,
because, otherwise, _prima donnas_ would be getting pitched out of
window every day.

"Krespel was in great excitement. He ordered horses. He got in to the
post-chaise.

"'Stop a moment, though,' he said. 'Isn't it a positive certainty that,
as soon as I make my appearance, the evil spirit will take possession
of Angela again? I've thrown her out of window once already. What
should I do a second time? I don't see what I could do.'

"He got out of the carriage, wrote an affectionate letter to his wife,
and--remained in Germany. They carried on a warm correspondence.
Assurances of affection, fond imaginings, regrets for the absence of
the beloved, etc., etc., flew backwards and forwards between H---- and
Venice. Angela came to Germany, as we know, and shone as prima donna on
the boards at F----. Though she was no longer young, she carried
everything before her by the irresistible charm of her singing. Her
voice had lost nothing at that time. Meanwhile Antonia had grown up;
and her mother could scar