“To help me to bear this horrible parting a strange chance has thrown in my way a charming girl of eighteen, who has fled from a brute who bought her--a mere child--and has kept her shut up like a slave for four years. Rather than go back to him, she says she will drown herself and my idea is to take her to Berlin, and by Spontini’s influence, place her in some chorus. I will try and make her love me, and if I succeed, I will fan into life the smouldering embers in my own heart and persuade myself that I love her. My passport is ready; I must make an end of things here. Henriette will be miserable but I have nothing to reproach myself with. “I would give my life this minute for a month of _perfect love_ with her. “She must abide the consequences of her unstable character; she will weep and despair at first, then will dry her tears and end by believing me in the wrong.” * * * * * “_11th October 1833._--I am married! All opposition has been in vain. Henriette has told me of the hundred and one lies they spread abroad. I was epileptic, I was mad--nothing was too bad. But we have listened to our own hearts and all is well. “This winter we are going to Berlin, but before leaving I must give a horrid concert. “How _awfully_ I love my poor Ophelia! When once we can get rid of her troublesome sister, life will be hard but quite happy. “We are at Vincennes, where my wife can spend her days in the Park, but I go to Paris every day. Our marriage has made the devil’s own row there. “My little fugitive is provided for. Jules Janin has arranged to send her away. “Write soon. I love to answer, in order to tell you of the heaven I live in--it needs but you! Surely love and friendship like yours and mine is one of the supreme joys of this world!” XXII NEWSPAPER BONDAGE At the time of our marriage our sole income was my scholarship, which still had a year and a half to run; but the Minister of the Interior absolved me from the regulation German tour. I had a fair number of friends and adherents in Paris and firm faith in the future. To pay my wife’s debts, I had to start _benefit-mongering_. My friends rallied round me--amongst them Alexandre Dumas, who was all his life my most devoted helper--and after untold annoyances we arranged a theatrical performance, followed by a concert at the Théâtre Italien. The programme was Dumas’ _Antony_, played by Firmin and Madame Dorval, followed by the fourth act of _Hamlet_, by my wife and some English amateurs; then a concert consisting of my _Symphonie Fantastique_, _Francs-Juges_, _Sardanapalus_, a chorus of Weber and his _Concert-Stück_, played by Liszt. If the concert had ever come off entirely it would have lasted till one in the morning. But it did not, and for the sake of young musicians I must tell what happened.