not.... And yet it must come in time." The
letters number twelve in all, and are couched in a tone of sentimental
regret for the brief, bright summer days of their acquaintanceship. The
keynote is struck in the inscription on the back of a photograph
which he gave her before they parted: _An die Maisonne eines
Septemberlebens--in Tirol_,(1) 27/9/89. In her album he had written the
words:

Hohes, schmerzliches Gluck--
um das Unerreichbare zu ringen!(2)

in which we may, if we like, see a foreshadowing of the Solness frame
of mind. In the fifth letter of the series he refers to her as "an
enigmatic Princess"; in the sixth he twice calls her "my dear Princess";
but this is the only point at which the letters quite definitely and
unmistakably point forward to _The Master Builder_. In the ninth letter
(February 6, 1890) he says: "I feel it a matter of conscience to end,
or at any rate, to restrict, our correspondence." The tenth letter,
six months later, is one of kindly condolence on the death of the young
lady's father. In the eleventh (very short) note, dated December 30,
1890, he acknowledges some small gift, but says: "Please, for the
present, do not write me again.... I will soon send you my new play
[_Hedda Gabler_]. Receive it in friendship, but in silence!" This
injunction she apparently obeyed. When _The Master Builder_ appeared, it
would seem that Ibsen did not even send her a copy of the play; and we
gather that he was rather annoyed when she sent him a photograph
signed "Princess of Orangia." On his seventieth birthday, however, she
telegraphed her congratulations, to which he returned a very cordial
reply. And here their relations ended.

That she was right, however, in regarding herself as his principal model
for Hilda appears from an anecdote related by Dr. Elias.(3) It is not
an altogether pleasing anecdote, but Dr. Elias is an unexceptionable
witness, and it can by no means be omitted from an examination into the
origins of _The Master Builder_. Ibsen had come to Berlin in February
1891 for the first performance of _Hedda Gabler_. Such experiences were
always a trial to him, and he felt greatly relieved when they were over.
Packing, too, he detested; and Elias having helped him through this
terrible ordeal, the two sat down to lunch together, while awaiting the
train. An expansive mood descended upon Ibsen, and chuckling over his
champagne glass, he said: "Do you know, my next play is alrea