Page:Rolland - A musical tour through the land of the past.djvu/122

110 do not know where I saw her for the first time. What I do know is that instantly I loved her … I told myself: She must be mine. … But God said to me: Thou must first be another Jacob (that is: thou must win her by toil and by tears)."

For years he sighed for her. She seemed unfeeling. How he suffered, once, when she was seriously ill!… And at another time when they were seeking to marry her! He thought "that his heart was going to break!" She seemed as indifferent as ever. It was only at the last moment, when he was leaving Sorau, flying before the Swedish invasion, that she allowed him to read her heart…

"I bade her Good night! for the last time. But what was that farewell about to teach me? I saw that her eyes were weeping, and I heard… (ah, what joy!): 'Farewell, my Telemann, do not forget me!'—I departed in an ecstasy of joy, despite the perils of a journey …"

Then follow love-letters. Then the return, the asking in marriage, the betrothal. …

"How all this happened I myself know not…"

Now they are married. It is a life of unclouded happiness, despite the difficulties of life and a meagre diet.

"… In our eyes it was a royal table—the table on which there was rarely more than one dish."

It was a faithful love, with no dissensions. And now they have a dear little child:

"… I am trembling in every limb. I pass through hours of unendurable suffering. …"

Six days after the birth of the child she was in excellent health, gay and jesting as usual. But he