An invisible hand, the agency of which I did not discover till long
afterwards, had contrived to derange my affairs, and to spread reports
concerning me which I was obliged to contradict by my presence. The
parting from the prince was painful to me, but did not affect him. The
ties which united us had been severed for some time, but his fate had
awakened all my anxiety. I, on that account, prevailed on Baron von
F------ to inform me by letter of every event, which he has done in the
most conscientious manner. As I was for a considerable time no longer
an eye-witness of these events, it will be allowable for me to introduce
the Baron von F------ in my stead, and to fill up the gap in my
narrative by the contents of his letters. Notwithstanding that the
representation of my friend F------ is not always what I should have
given, I would not alter any of his expressions, so that the reader will
be enabled to discover the truth with very little trouble."

LETTER I.

BARON VON F----- TO COUNT VON O---------.

May 17.

I thank you, my most honored friend, for the permission you have given
me to continue in your absence that confidential intercourse with you,
which during your stay here formed my great pleasure. You must be aware
that there is no one here with whom I can venture to open my heart on
certain private matters. Whatever you may urge to the contrary, I
detest the people here. Since the prince has become one of them, and
since we have lost your society, I feel solitary in the midst of this
populous city. Z------ takes it less to heart, and the fair ones of
Venice manage to make him forget the mortifications he is compelled to
share with me at home. And why should he make himself unhappy? He
desires nothing more in the prince than a master, whom he could also
find elsewhere. But I!--you know how deep an interest I feel in our
prince's weal and woe, and how much cause I have for doing so; I have
now lived with him sixteen years, and seem to exist only for his sake.
As a boy of nine years old I first entered his service, and since that
time we have never been separated. I have grown up under his eye--a
long intercourse has insensibly attached me more and more to him--I have
borne a part in all his adventures, great and small. Until this last
unhappy year I had been accustomed to look upon him in the light of a
friend, or of an elder brother--I have basked in his smile as in the
sunshine of a summer's day--no