This letter, which contained no evidence but only lamentations, was accompanied by another from her landlord in Vienna, a very reputable merchant. It seemed to bear her out, for he warned me in it to be cautious in my relations with Andre and to hurry to Vienna if I wished to obtain the franchise, which could not escape me as a most influential man had come to our support and it depended merely on the evidence to be furnished by me. Greatly as my suspicions were increased by this, I hoped that everything was due merely to misunderstanding, and I proposed to Herr Andre to let me go to Vienna, where I would inform myself thoroughly and make strong efforts to obtain the franchise. He denied my request, saying that there was nothing more to do in Vienna, as the Government had turned both women away, and the whole plan was spoiled as the whole art and copper-etching trade had become apprehensive and was united in opposition to the new process. He said that I should rather go quickly to work to transfer his music from zinc plates to the stone, because he had an excellent opportunity to sell his entire stock of zincs, which would give us a new capital of forty thousand gulden for the greater enterprises. I realized the good sense of this, but would not admit that a delay of three or four weeks could interfere with it, as the entire transfers could not be completed in less than a year, and the slight delay, therefore, could be made up by additional work or by engaging a few more assistants. I insisted on my demand, all the more as I had spent seven months in England on his account. In the heat of the succeeding dispute he reminded me of the helpless position in which he had found me, and said that as partner in his business, I owed him all my present fortune. Conscious as I was of my honest intention to help him to the best of my ability, and also of the unbounded trustfulness with which I had imparted to him far more than was called for in our contract, I was so deeply hurt that I forgot myself and tore up our agreement, which had been signed only the day before and which assured for me one fifth of all profits of the Andre business. I threw the pieces down with the exclamation that I did not wish to make my fortune through his means. This was one of the most important moments in my life, and in the process of lithography. It gave my work an entirely new direction, hurled me into a mass of troubles, and brought it about that Herr Andre himself did not gain anything like the expected profits from the new art. Indeed, he lost heavily in London and France, whereas, had we remained together, lithography might now be highly perfected in both these countries and produce no small wealth for its users. When Andre saw that I was determined to go to Vienna, he yielded, but assured me that I would go in vain and achieve no result.