In the latter role particularly she surpassed herself, and kindled a fresh flame in my breast.  This visit brought us also into closer personal contact.  So kindly disposed and sympathetic did she show herself towards me, that she even volunteered to lend me her services at a concert which I proposed to give for my own benefit, although this would necessitate her returning after a brief absence.  Under circumstances so auspicious I could only expect the best possible results from my concert, and in my situation at that time its proceeds were a matter of vital importance to me.  My scanty salary from the Magdeburg opera company had become altogether illusory, being paid only in small and irregular instalments, so that I could see but one way of meeting my daily expenses.  These included frequent entertainment of a large circle of friends, consisting of singers and players, and the situation had become unpleasantly accentuated by no small number of debts.  True, I did not know their exact amount; but reckoned that I could at least form an advantageous, if indefinite, estimate of the sum to be realized by my concert, whereby the two unknown quantities might balance each other.  I therefore consoled my creditors with the tale of these fabulous receipts, which were to pay them all in full the day after the concert.  I even went so far as to invite them to come and be paid at the hotel to which I had moved at the close of the season.

And, indeed, there was nothing unreasonable in my counting on the highest imaginable receipts, when supported by so great and popular a singer, who, moreover, was returning to Magdeburg on purpose for the event.  I consequently acted with reckless prodigality as regards cost, launching out into all manner of musical extravagance, such as engaging an excellent and much larger orchestra, and arranging many rehearsals.  Unfortunately for me, however, nobody would believe that such a famous actress, whose time was so precious, would really return again to please a little Magdeburg conductor.  My pompous announcement of her appearance was almost universally regarded as a deceitful manoeuvre, and people took offence at the high prices charged for seats.  The result was that the hall was only very scantily filled, a fact which particularly grieved me on account of my generous patroness.  Her promise I had never doubted.  Punctually on the day appointed she reappeared to support me, and now had the painful and unaccustomed experience of performing before a small audience.  Fortunately, she treated the matter with great good-humour (which, I learned later, was prompted by other motives, not personally concerning me).  Among several pieces she sang Beethoven’s Adelaide most exquisitely, wherein, to my own astonishment, I accompanied her on the piano.  But, alas! another and more unexpected mishap befell my concert, through our unfortunate selection of pieces.  Owing to the excessive reverberation of the saloon in the Hotel