Page:The Works of J. W. von Goethe, Volume 5.djvu/287

 FIFTEENTH BOOK.

From these manifold diversions, which, however, generally gave occasion for serious, and even religious, reflections, I always returned to my noble friend, Fraulein von Klettenberg, whose presence calmed, at least for a moment, my stormy and undirected impulses and passions, and to whom, next to my sister, I liked best to communicate designs like that I have just spoken of. I might, indeed, have perceived that her health was constantly failing : but I concealed it from myself ; and this I was the better able to do as her cheerfulness increased with her illness. She used to sit, neatly dressed, in her chair at the window, and kindly hstened to the narratives of my little expedi- tions as well as to what I read aloud to her. Often, too, I made sketches, in order to make her understand the better the description of the places I had seen. One evening I had been recalling to my mind many different images, when, in the Hght of the setting sun, she and all around her appeared before me as if trans- figured ; and I could not refrain from making a drawing of her, and of the surrounding objects in the chamber, as well as my poor skill permitted. In the hands of a skilful artist hke Kersting it would have made a beau- tiful picture. I sent it to a fair friend at a distance, and added a song as commentary and supplement :

In this magic glass reflected,

See a vision, mild and blessed : By the wing of God protected,

Is our suffering friend at rest. 269