The lawsuit between Madame Gleissner and my mother, which Herr Andre considered the greatest obstacle in his way, still continued; and in order to get it out of the way once and for all, I took my brothers, George and Theobald, who had been dismissed by Herr Andre, to Vienna with me to combine with me. Andre told me afterward, after our relations had reached final rupture, that this act had annoyed him most, and that it was the main reason for giving up all dealings with me, because it was inconceivable to him how any one, without the utmost weakness of character, could forgive such treachery as theirs. He did not reflect that I, who knew selfishness only by name, had not felt their affront so keenly, and that my brotherly affection excused it and made me trust that it never had been their intention to shut me out entirely from any gains they might make. PART II FROM 1800 TO 1806 It was in August, 1800, that I went to Vienna with my brothers. In Regensburg we met my mother, who had come to visit one of her daughters because the decision of the Imperial Austrian Government had been delayed too long for her patience. She assured me that when she petitioned for the privilege she had named not only my brothers but me, too, and had asked it for us three. This assurance gave me great joy, and I determined absolutely to urge Madame Gleissner to accept my brothers as partners. I thought that if we three worked industriously and unitedly, we would succeed much better and more quickly. I entered Vienna with excellent hopes, based mostly on a letter from Madame Gleissner, saying that the influential man who was interested in our cause had promised to advance us six thousand gulden. But these fine things retired into dark shadows when I learned, in my first conversation with her, that all these promises were made dependent on conditions. The whole understanding rested on the following: Madame Gleissner lodged with a prominent family. Andre himself had told her that she was to live well and exhibit no lack of money, because she was much more likely to obtain the franchise if the Government were led to expect that it would bring wealthy people into the country. Therefore Madame Gleissner considered it necessary to take part in all amusements and fashions of her hosts. Her monthly expenditures were beyond the sum considered necessary by Herr Andre's friend in Vienna, who had been authorized to pay her an allowance. Friendly solicitude caused him to write to Offenbach that Madame Gleissner knew nothing of economy, and that it was to be feared if the franchise were not granted in Herr Andre's name, he would have too little power to check her extravagance in the future. He added that judging from her utterances and her present behavior, with the franchise still in question, it was only too likely that she intended to spend Herr Andre's money for show and society instead of for the business.