nd left the country at once. Marian was
glad of it: the child now belonged entirely to her.

Though the people soon became accustomed to the existence of their
diminutive fellow-townswoman, Eva was and remained the mysterious child
of Eschenbach.

IX

The opera company made its rounds through the small cities that lie
between the Danube and the Main, the Saale and the Neckar--and there are
many of them,--its stay in any one place depending naturally on the
interest shown by the public.

"The province is the enchanted Sleeping Beauty," said the impresario
Doermaul to Wurzelmann and Daniel, "the province is still asleep, and you
must rouse it from its slumbers by pressing the kiss of the Muse on its
forehead."

But the impresario was unwilling to open his pockets. The princes who
were to release Sleeping Beauty did not have sufficient means to make a
presentable appearance, while their retinue was seedy-looking indeed.

The tenor had long since passed the zenith of his career. His massive
paunch placed deadening strictures on his credentials as the
impersonator of heroes. The buffo was an inveterate toper who had often
been placed behind bars by the police for his nocturnal excesses. The
barytone had a big lawsuit on his hands about an estate; his lawyers
were two stars of obscurity from a small village; and at times he became
so vexed at the cuts of his opponents that he lost his voice. The
soprano was incessantly quarrelling with her colleagues, and the alto
was an intriguing vixen quite without talent. In addition to these there
were a dozen or so super-numeraries and under-studies, who were bored, who
played practical jokes on each other, drew starvation wages, and had
never learned anything.

The musicians were also a sorry lot. It was not rare that one or the
other of them had pawned his instrument. Once a performance had to be
postponed because the violinists had stayed over their time at a village
dance where they were playing in order to add to their paltry income.
The inspector, who was scene-shifter, promoter, ticket seller, and
publicity agent all in one, and who was not equal to any of these
positions, took French leave in the second year and ran off with one of
the chorus girls, taking the box-office receipts for the evening with
him.

One time the costumes were sent to the wrong address, with the result
that Boieldieu's "La Dame Blanche" had to be played in wool