Ludwig's hand; and in a few moments his charger was
bearing him rapidly along with the troops moving on to the attack, the
light and joy of battle on every brow."

The friends were much affected by this; for each of them remembered
days when the clutch of a hostile destiny was at his throat and all
comfort or enjoyment in life seemed to be a thing of the past for ever.
And then, after a time, the first rays of the beautiful Star of Hope
began to pierce the clouds and rose higher and higher, reviving them,
strengthening and invigorating them with newness of life. Then, in the
gladsomeness of contest, everything stirred, and came into activity,
shouting for joy. At last the grandest and most brilliant of victories
rewarded their courage and constancy.

"Each of us," said Lothair, "has said, within himself, very much what
the Serapiontic Ferdinand said; and well is it for us that the menacing
storms which thundered over our heads refreshed us, instead of
annihilating us, and braced us like a fine sulphur bath. In fact, it
seems to me that it is only now, and here among you, that I begin to
feel quite strong and well, and to trace a fresh impulse to begin, now
that the storms are over, to bestir myself again in the paths of
literature and science. I know that Theodore is doing so right
strenuously; he is devoting himself, as of old, to his music, although
he is not neglecting literature neither, so that I am expecting him to
astonish us, one of these days, with an opera altogether his own, both
music and words. All that he has said about the impossibility of the
same person writing the words and the music of an opera may be
plausible enough, but it doesn't convince me."

"I don't agree with you," said Cyprian, "but I don't see much use in
continuing the discussion. It seems all the more a waste of time that
if the thing were possible, which Theodore says it is not, he would be
the first to set about doing it. It would be far better if he would
open his piano and, as he has favoured us with so many interesting
Stories, let us hear some of his Compositions."

"Cyprian," said Theodore, "is always accusing me of sticking too
closely to established forms, and rejecting any poetry which cannot be
fitted to some of them. This I do not admit, and I mean to prove what I
say by producing some music of mine to words which require a setting
differing from any of the hackneyed 'forms' in question. I mean
the Night Hymn in Mueller