The next day I hurried back to Karlsruhe, where my announcement was received by the Grand Duke with kindly acquiescence.  I could truly state that my request for leave of absence for the singers had been refused, and the projected performance in Karlsruhe thereby rendered impossible.  Without any grief, but, on the contrary, with undisguised satisfaction, Eduard Devrient yielded to this fresh turn of affairs, and prophesied a splendid future for me in Vienna.  Here Tausig overtook me, having already decided in Vienna to pay a visit to Paris, where he wished to see Liszt; and we accordingly continued our journey from Karlsruhe together by way of Strasburg.

When I reached Paris, I found my household on the point of breaking up.  My only anxiety with regard to this was to procure means for getting away from the city, and for the prompt settlement of a future which seemed hopeless.  Meanwhile Minna found an opportunity for exhibiting her talents as a housewife.  Liszt had already fallen back into his old current of life, and even his own daughter, Blandine, could only manage to get a word with him in his carriage, as he drove from one visit to another.  Nevertheless, impelled by his goodness of heart, he found time once to accept an invitation to ‘beef-steaks’ at my house.  He even managed to spare me a whole evening, for which he kindly placed himself at my disposal for the settlement of my small obligations.  In the presence of a few friends, who had remained true after the recent days of trouble, he played the piano to us on this occasion, during which a curious coincidence occurred.  The day before poor Tausig had filled up a spare hour by playing Liszt’s ‘Fantaisie’ on the name of Bach, [Footnote:  The notes B, A, C, H, are equivalent to our English B flat, A, C, B.—­Editor.] and now when Liszt chanced to play us the same piece, he literally collapsed with amazement before this wonderful prodigy of a man.

Another day we met for lunch at Gounod’s, when we had a very dull time, which was only enlivened by poor Baudelaire, who indulged in the most outrageous witticisms.  This man, crible de dettes, as he told me, and daily compelled to adopt the most extravagant methods for a bare subsistence, had repeatedly approached me with adventurous schemes for the exploitation of my notorious fiasco.  I could not on any account consent to adopt any of these, and was glad to find this really capable man safe under the eagle-wing of Liszt’s ‘ascendency.’  Liszt took him everywhere where there was a possibility of a fortune being found.  Whether this helped him into anything or not, I never knew.  I only heard that he died a short time afterwards, certainly not from an excess of good fortune.