At the time of Ludwig's first visit to Paris, Cora Pearl, noted alike for her beauty and her frivolity, sent the young King her portrait. None of his suite dared to present it to him, it being known that he was not attracted by women. At Hohenschwangau, a year later, he received his secretary with the following words:--"I have seen your wife to-day!" The secretary bowed in silence, being uncertain what this utterance might mean. "I have seen your wife to-day!" repeated the King in his severest tone. The secretary now realised the significance of the words addressed to him, and respectfully assured his Majesty that he would see that such a thing should not occur again. The King's dislike of the fair sex could not otherwise than cause it to be hinted that his emotional life was not normal, a rumour strengthened by the warm interest which he exhibited in several men. The Hungarian writer, Maurus Jókai, has related in private circles how in his youth he received a letter from an unknown person offering him riches and marks of honour, everything which a powerful master is in a position to offer, if he would leave his country and his family and live entirely for an unhappy and lonely man. The novelist would not break the ties which bound him to his home and his native land; but he ever retained a deep feeling of sympathy for the writer of the letter. Ludwig's need for solitude was, without doubt, the result of enigmatical depths in his nature. As a youth he had suspected, and as a man of riper years he felt, that it was impossible for him to be otherwise than a recluse and a stranger in life. Despite his high position, despite his beauty and gifts of mind, he was in his inward self helpless and tired of existence. His friendship for Richard Wagner was the bright spot in his life. He had believed in the incense with which the master in the first hours of sincere gratitude had surrounded his protector. But Wagner's proud affection was something very different from the flattery which met him from courtiers and his later favourites, who crawled in the dust to promote their own welfare. His favour and affection came as unexpectedly on the recipient as his distaste and contempt for them--his feelings, which found an outlet in autograph letters, exaggerated expressions, and gifts, not continuing for any length of time.