“But now, who is the object of my love?  Do not be startled, I entreat you.  Not one of the Webers, surely?  Yes, one of the Webers,—­not Josepha, not Sophie, but the third daughter, Constanze.  I never met with such diversity of dispositions in any family.  The eldest is idle, coarse, and deceitful—­crafty and cunning as a fox; Madame Lange (Aloysia) is false and unprincipled, and a coquette; the youngest is still too young to have her character defined,—­she is merely a good humoured, frivolous girl; may God guard her from temptation!

“The third, however, namely, my good and beloved Constanze, is the martyr of the family, and, probably on this very account, the kindest hearted, the cleverest, and, in short, the best of them all; she takes charge of the whole house, and yet does nothing right in their eyes.  Oh! my dear father, I could write you pages were I to describe to you all the scenes I have witnessed in that house.  She is not plain, but at the same time far from being handsome; her whole beauty consists of a pair of bright black eyes and a pretty figure.  She is not witty, but has enough of sound good sense to enable her to fulfil her duties as a wife and mother.  Her dress is always neat and nice, however simple, and she can herself make most of the things requisite for a young lady.  She dresses her own hair, understands housekeeping, and has the best heart in the world.  I love her with my whole soul, as she does me.  Tell me if I could wish for a better wife.  All I now wish is, that I may procure some permanent situation (and this, thank God, I have good hopes of), and then I shall never cease entreating your consent to my rescuing this poor girl, and thus making, I may say, all of us quite happy, as well as Constanze and myself; for, if I am happy, you are sure to be so, dearest father, and one-half of the proceeds of my situation shall be yours.  Pray, have compassion on your son.”

This news was answered by a simoom of rage from Salzburg.  The father had a partial justification for his wrath in the fact that a busybody had carried to him all manner of slander about Mozart and, likewise, slander about Constanze.  He writes reminding Wolfgang of his mistake about Aloysia, and mentions a rumour that Wolfgang had been decoyed into signing a written contract of marriage with Constanze.  To this Mozart writes very frankly and in a manner that shows Constanze in a beautiful light: 

“You are well aware that, her father being no longer alive, a guardian stands in his place.  To him (who is not acquainted with me) busybodies and officious gentlemen must have no doubt brought all sorts of reports, such as, that he must beware of me, that I have no fixed income, that I would perhaps leave her in the lurch, etc., etc.  The guardian became very uneasy at these insinuations.  We conversed together, and the result was (as I did not explain myself so clearly as he desired) that he insisted on the mother putting an end to all intercourse between her daughter and myself until I had settled the affair with him in writing.  What could I do?  I was forced either to give a contract in writing or renounce the girl.  Who that sincerely and truly loves can forsake his beloved?  Would not the mother of the girl herself have placed the worst interpretation on such conduct?  Such was my position.  The contract was in this form: