In the _Carnaval_, as in the Dances, Florestan breaks roughly into the meditations of Eusebius. He works himself into a very whirlwind of energy; and then Schumann, by a delicious sense of humor, lets the artful _Coquette_ slide into his eye and put an end to his vociferations. To her there is no reply but the gentle, short _Replique_. Are the _Papillons_ which follow masqueraders? The horn figures of the accompaniment bring in a new group to the fair, fresh from the outer world. They are gone in a flash, and their place is taken by three dancing letters, ‛_As_,’ C, and H; _As_ being German for A-flat, and H for B. And these letters spell the birthplace, as we have said, of one of Schumann’s early loves. The love of his whole life follows--_Chiarina_, his beloved Clara; and, as if with her were associated the loveliest and most poetic of pianoforte music, he calls Chopin to mind. Chopin at this fair! It is a fantastic touch. More than when Eusebius speaks, the background of gay dancers and masqueraders fades from sight. For a moment Chopin is in our midst. Then he has vanished. And at once another thought of Clara, this time as _Estrella_; then an acquaintance in the throng. He has seen a face he knew, it is a friend. It is the Sphinx of _Chiarina_ in the music. Is it she he recognized? Are the lovely interchanges in the middle section conversations with her? If so, their mood is light. They have met at a fair. They are in the merry-making. Two more professionals, masquers this time--the world-favorites, _Pantalon_ and _Colombine_; and at the end of their piece an exquisite thought of Schumann’s. Then the German waltz, simplicity itself; and in the midst of it none other than the wizard, _Paganini_! Surely, there was never a stranger trick of thought than that which thus placed Paganini in the midst of a simple, tender German waltz. He vanishes in a puff of smoke, as conjured devils are supposed to do; and the waltz goes on, as if all this intermission had been but a flash in the air above the heads of dancers too absorbed in their pastime to note such infernal phenomena. After the waltz, a lover’s confession, hesitating but enraptured; and then a _Promenade_. There is full feeling, there is delight and ecstasy. Our lover whirls his maiden from the fair. Farther and farther they go, hand in hand, into the shadowy, calm night. Fainter and fainter the sounds of revelry, till all is silence.