a soul, which, even through pale
blue eyes, pale cheeks, and ordinary features, could make her beauty
felt.

When Otto entered the room he heard music. He listened: it must be
either Weyse or Gerson.

"It is the Professor Weyse," said the servant, and Otto opened the door
softly, without knocking.

The astral-lamp burnt upon the table; upon the sofa sat two young
ladies. The mistress of the house nodded Otto a friendly welcome, but
then smiling laid her finger on her lips, as a sign of silence, and
pointed to a chair, on which he seated himself, and listened to the soft
tones, which, like spirits, floated from the piano at which the musician
sat. It was as if the slumbering thoughts and feelings of the soul,
which in every breast find a response, even among the most opposite
nations, had found a voice and language. The fantasies died away in a
soft, spiritual piano. Thus lightly has Raphael breathed the Madonna
di Foligno upon the clouds; she rests there as a soap-bubble rests upon
velvet. That dying away of the tomes resembled the thoughts of the lover
when his eye closes, and the living dream of his heart imperceptibly
merges and vanishes in sleep. Reality is over.

Here also the tones ceased.

"Der Bettelvogt von Ninive
Zog hinab zum Genfersee,
Hm, hm!"
[Author's Note: An old popular German song.]

commenced the musician once more, with an originality and spirit which
influenced the whole company. Far too soon did he again break off,
after he had enchanted all ears by his own treasures, as well as by the
curiosities of the people's life in the world of sound. Only when he
was gone did admiration find words; the fantasies still echoed in every
heart.

"His name deserves to be known throughout Europe!" said the gracious
lady; "how few people in the world know Weyse and Kuhlau!"

"That is the misfortune of a musician being born in a small country,"
said Otto. "His works become only manuscript for friends; his auditory
extends only from Skagen to Kiel: there the door is closed."

"One must console one's self that everything great and good becomes at
length known," said the cousin of the family, who is known to us by his
verses for the Christmas-tree. "The nations will become acquainted with
everything splendid in the kingdom of mind, let it bloom in a small or
in a large country. Certainly during this time the artist may have died,
but then he must rec