a congenial mood. He had
written to Clara the very morning after the concert at daybreak,
saying: "I write this in the very light of Aurora. Would it be that
only one more daybreak should separate us." He tells her of his plan,
asking only one word of approval. Clara, overcome with emotion when
Becker brought her the first letter she had received in so long a time
from Schumann, was so delighted at the inspiration that she wrote:

"Only a simple 'Ja' do you ask. Such a tiny little word ... so weighty
though ... could a heart, as full of unspeakable love as mine not speak
this tiny little word with the whole soul? I do it and my soul whispers
it for ever. The grief of my heart, the many tears, could I but
describe them ... oh, no! Your plan seems to me risky, but a loving
heart fears no obstacles. Therefore once more I say _yes_! Could God
turn my eighteenth birthday into a day of mourning? Oh, no! that were
far too gruesome. Ah, I have long felt 'it must be,' and nothing in the
world shall make me waver, and I will convince my father that a
youthful heart can also be steadfast. Very hastily,

"Your CLARA."

And now, letters began to fly as thickly as swallows at evening. She
found a better messenger than Becker, in her faithful maid, "Nanny,"
whom she recommended to complete confidence: "So Nanny can serve as a
pen to me." At last the lovers met clandestinely by appointment, as
Clara returned from a visit to Emily List. Both were so agitated that
Clara almost fainted, and Schumann was formal and cold. She wrote
later:

"The moon shone so beautifully on your face when you lifted your hat
and passed your hand across your forehead; I had the sweetest feeling
that I ever had; I had found my love again."

It was in this time of frenzied enthusiasm, of alternate hope and
despondency, that Schumann wrote the seventh of his "Davidsbuendlertaenze."
The birthday came, and with it the letter went to Wieck:

"It is so simple what I have to say to you--and yet the right words
fail me constantly. A trembling hand will not let the pen run
quietly.... To-day is Clara's birthday,--the day when the dearest being
in the world, for you as for me, first saw the light of the world."

He tells how through all the obstacles that had met their way he had
deeply loved her and she him.

"Ask her eyes whether I have told the truth. Eighteen months long have
you tested me. If you have found me worthy, true and manly, then seal
this union