anube from the hill where you
stopped before sunset, and now see how zealously you are striving to
adorn your person, it seems to me that there must be in this good city
some one for whom you care more than for all you left behind in Brussels.
At your age, that is a matter of course, if there is a woman in the case,
as I suppose. I know very well what I should do if I were in your place.
Longing often urges me back to Spain like a scourge. I have already told
you why I left my dear wife there in our home. A few more years in the
service, and our savings and the pension together will be enough to
support us there and lay aside a little marriage dowry for our daughter.
When I have what is necessary, I shall turn my back on the orchestra and
the court of Brussels that very day, dear as music is to me, and sure as
I am that I shall never again find a leader like our Gombert. You do not
yet know with how sharp a tooth yearning rends the soul of the man whom
Fate condemns to live away from his family. This place is your home, and
dearer to you than any other, so build yourself a snug nest here with the
person you have in mind."

"How gladly I would do so!" replied the young knight, "but whether I can
must be decided within the next few davs."

"Inde-e-ed?" drawled Massi; then he bent his eyes thoughtfully upon the
floor for a short time, and, after calling Wolf by name in a tone of
genuine friendly affection, he frankly added: "Surely you know how dear a
comrade you are to me! Yet precisely for that reason I stick to my
counsel. It's not only on account of the homesickness--I am, thinking
rather of your position at court--and, let me speak candidly, it is
unworthy of a nobleman and a musician of such ability. The regent is
graciously disposed toward you, and you praise her liberality, but do you
yourself know the name of the office which you fill? More than enough is
placed upon you, and yet, so far as I see, nothing complete. They
understand admirably how to make use of you. It would be well if that
applied solely to the musician. But sometimes she makes you secretary,
and you have to waste whole days in writing letters and do penance for
having learned so many languages; sometimes you must share in the folly
of arranging performances, and your wealth of knowledge is industriously
utilized in preparing mythological figures and devising new ideas for the
exhibitions at which we have to furnish the music. This affords plenty o