Madame’s eyes flashed fire, and she stormed with fury; but the obdurate captain could not be moved, and, to avoid the disgrace of being taken by force, she accepted an armistice.  “I will go to the theatre,” she said, mentally resolving to sing as badly as, with a magnificent voice and irreproachable taste, she could possibly manage.  Resolutely she kept to this idea till the curtain was about to descend on the first act, when a thought suddenly seized her.  Might she not be ruining herself in giving the Grand Duke of Russia a bad opinion of her powers?  In a bravura she burst forth with all her power, distinguishing herself especially by a marvelous shake, which she executed with such wonderful art as to call down thunders of applause.

At last the Maras succeeded in effecting their escape by stratagem.  In passing through one city they were stopped by an officer of gens d’armes, who demanded the requisite papers.  Faltering with dread, yet with quick self-possession, Mme. Mara handed him a letter in the royal handwriting.  The signature was enough, and the officer did not stop to read the body of the letter, but turned out the guard to honor travelers possessing such signal proofs of the King’s favor.  They had just gained the gates of Dresden when they found that the Prussian charge d’affaires resided in the city.  “No one can conceive my agitation and alarm,” said Mme. Mara, “when, in one of the first streets we entered, we encountered the said charge d’affaires, who rode directly up to us.  He had been apprised of our arrival, and the chaise was instantly stopped.  As to what took place between him and my good man, and how the latter contrived to get out of the scrape, I was totally unconscious.  I had fallen into a swoon, from which I did not recover till we had reached our inn.”  At length they reached the confines of Bohemia, and, for the first time, supped in freedom and security.

The Austrian Empress, Maria Theresa, would have found enough motive in patronizing Mara in the fact that her great Prussian rival had persecuted her; but love of art was a further inducement which drew out her kindliest feelings.  The singer remained at the Viennese court for two years, and left it for Paris, with autograph letters to the ill-fated Marie Antoinette.  She was most cordially welcomed both by court and public, and soon became such a rival to the distinguished Portuguese prima donna, Todi, then in the zenith of her fame, that the devotees of music divided themselves into fierce factions respectively named after the rival queens of song.  Mara was honored with the title of premiere cantatrice de la reine, and left Paris with regret, to begin her English career under singularly favorable auspices, as she was invited to share a partnership with Linley and Dr. Arnold for the production of oratorios at Drury Lane.