Lohengrin was also to be produced there.  Although this was very gratifying, I did not in the least know what to do with the good man at such close quarters.  Fortunately I was able to hand him over to Tausig, who understood my embarrassment, and kept Tichatschek to himself pretty well the whole day, by playing cards with him.  The young tenor Niemann, of whose great talent I had heard so much, soon arrived with his bride, the famous actress Seebach, and owing to his almost gigantic frame, he struck me as being just the man for Siegfried.  The fact of having two famous tenors with me at the same time gave rise to the annoyance that neither of them would sing anything to me, as they were ill at ease in each other’s presence.  I quite believed, however, that Niemann’s voice must be on a par with his imposing personality.  About that time (15th July) I fetched my wife from Brestenberg.  During my absence my servant, who was a cunning Saxon, had thought fit to erect a kind of triumphal arch to celebrate the return of the mistress of the house.  This led to great complications, as, much to her delight, Minna was convinced that this flower-bedecked triumphal arch would greatly attract the attention of our neighbours, and thought this would be sufficient to prevent them from regarding her return home as a humiliating one.  She insisted with triumphant joy upon the decorations remaining up for several days.  About the same time the Bulows, true to their promise, paid another visit.  The unfortunate Tichatschek again put off his departure, and consequently continued to occupy our one small spare room, so I was obliged to let my friends stay at the hotel several days longer.  However, the visits they paid to the Wesendoncks as well as to me soon afforded me an opportunity of hearing, much to my surprise, of the effect the triumphal arch had produced on our neighbour’s young wife, who was still nursing her injured feelings.  When I heard of her passionate protests I realised to what a pass things had come, and immediately gave up all hope of putting a peaceful end to the discordant situation.  Those were days of terrible anxiety.  I wished myself in the most distant desert, and yet was in the awkward position of having to keep my house open to a succession of visitors.  At last Tichatschek took his departure, and I could at least devote the remainder of my stay to the pleasant duty of entertaining favourite guests.  The Bulows really seemed to me to have been providentially sent for the purpose of quelling the horrible excitement that prevailed in the house.  Hans made the best of things when, on the day of his arrival, he caught me in the midst of a terrific scene with Minna, as I had just told her plainly that from what I could see of the present position of affairs, our stay here was no longer possible, and that I was only deferring my departure until after the visit of our young friends.  This time, however, I had to admit that she was not altogether to blame.