nest for his love-bird (with a perch in
it for himself), he summoned his architect, Metzger, and instructed
him to build one in the more fashionable Barerstrasse.

"No expense is to be spared," he said.

None was spared.

[Illustration: _Supper-Party at Les Freres Provencaux. First act in a
Tragedy_]

The new dwelling, which adjoined the Karolinen Platz, was really a
bijou palace, modelled on the Italian style. Everything in it was of
the best, for Ludwig had cash and Lola had taste. Thus, her toilet-set
was of silver ware; her china and glass came from Dresden: the rooms
were filled with costly nicknacks; mirrors and cabinets and vases and
bronzes; richly-bound books on the shelves; and valuable tapestries
and pictures on the walls. French elegance, added to Munich art, with
a touch of solid English comfort in the shape of easy chairs and
couches.

To check a playful habit that the Munich mob had of throwing bricks
through them, when they had drunk more beer than they could carry, the
windows were fitted with iron grilles. As a further precaution, a
mounted officer always accompanied the Barerstrasse chatelaine when
she was driving in public, and sentries stood at the door, to keep the
curious at a respectful distance.

A description of the Barerstrasse nest was sent to London by a
privileged journalist who had inspected it:

"The style of luxury in which Lola Montez lives here passes all
bounds. Nothing to equal it has been met with in Munich. It might
almost be an Aladdin's palace! The walls of her bed-chamber are hung
with guipure and costly satin. The furniture is of Louis XV era, and
the mantelpiece is of valuable Sevres porcelain. The garden is filled
with rare flowers, and the carriages and horses in the stables are the
wonder and envy of the honest burghers."

"The Queen herself could not be better housed," said Lola delightedly,
when she saw all the luxuries of which she was now the mistress.

"You are my Queen," declared Ludwig fondly.

While Lola, to please her patron, grappled with the intricacies of the
German tongue, Ludwig, to please his charmer, took lessons from her in
Spanish. She still stuck to her Andalusian upbringing, and is said
(but the report lacks confirmation) to have introduced him to a
Kempis. This, however, is probably a misprint for Don Quixote. None
the less, her inspiration was such that her pupil could write:

Thou dost not wound thy lover with heartless tricks;