ake it
amiss if I find in them a compliment to myself also. Tell him that I
think as highly of his genius as you do, and more than that he could not
wish." "Amen," said I. Are you satisfied?

"'_Postscript_ (for the ear of the good wife).--Take care that the
acknowledgment be not too long delayed. A note from Mozart himself
would be best. We must not lose so favorable a breeze.'

"'You angel! You divine creature!' cried Mozart again and again. It
would be hard to say which pleased him most, the letter, or the praise
of the prince, or the money. I confess that just then the money appealed
most to me. We passed a very happy evening, as you may guess.

"Of the affair in the suburb I heard neither that day nor the next. The
whole week went by; no Crescenz appeared, and my husband, in a whirl of
engagements, soon forgot her. One Sunday evening we had a small
musicale. Captain Wasselt, Count Hardegg, and others were there. During
a pause I was called out, and there was the outfit. I went back to the
room and asked, 'Have you ordered a lot of woodenware from the
Alservorsstadt?'

"'By thunder, so I did! I suppose the girl is here? Tell her to come
in.'

"So in she came, quite at ease, with rakes, spades, and all,
and apologized for her delay, saying that she had forgotten the
name of the street and had only just found it. Mozart took the things
from her, one after another, and handed them to me with great
satisfaction. I thanked him and was pleased with everything, praising
and admiring, though I wondered all the time what he had bought the
garden tools for.

"'For your garden,' he said.

"'Goodness! we gave that up long ago, because the river did so much
damage; and besides we never had good luck with it. I told you, and you
didn't object.'

"'What! And so the asparagus that we had this spring--'

"'Was always from the market!'

"'Hear that! If I had only known it! And I praised it just out of pity
for your poor garden, when really the stalks were no bigger than Dutch
quills.'

"The guests enjoyed the fun, and I had to give them some of the
unnecessary articles at once. And when Mozart inquired of the girl about
the prospects of her marriage, and encouraged her to speak freely,
assuring her that whatever assistance we could offer should be quietly
given and cause her no trouble, she told her story with so much modesty
and discretion that she quite won her audience, and was sent away much
encouraged