Page:Hoffmann's Strange Stories - Hoffman - 1855.djvu/38

34 strange joyousness, talked at random, throwing his cap into the air, and capering like a mad man. When they approached the city, Frederick became still more serious, and stopping suddenly, he exclaimed—"No, I cannot really go another step! Sadness weighs upon my heart, and I can no longer support it. Let me seek a short repose under these trees."

On saying this, he threw himself on the ground, as if annihilated. Reinhold seated himself by his side, and began to talk of the night before.

"Last evening," said he, "I must have given you a strange surprise. When you related to me your love adventure, and when you deplored the uncertainty of the future, I felt myself an agitation which I could not explain. My brain was in a ferment; I should have become mad, if, when I met thee, thy sweet patriotic song had not calmed me as if by a miracle. This morning I awoke joyous and cheerful; the phantoms which had possessed me yesterday are vanished, and I have recovered calmness and serenity of mind. I no longer remembered any thing but the lucky chance which led to our meeting; and I think of nothing more than cultivating the friendship which I had conceived for thee at first sight. Friendship is a gift from heaven, whose fruits are invaluable. I wish in this connection to relate to thee a touching event which took place, several years ago, in Italy, at a time when I made a short stay there myself. Listen attentively:

"There was a noble prince, a friend to art, and an enlightened protector of true talent, who had put up for competition a considerable prize for the best painting of a very interesting subject, the details of which were surrounded with difficulties. Two young artists, who were united by the most tender affection, and who lived and worked together, presented themselves to dispute the prize. They placed in common, to tempt success, all that they possessed of imagination and practical science. The eldest, endowed with great aptitude for drawing and composition, drew the sketch almost instantaneously. Before the bold stroke of a mind powerful to create, the