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FANNY MENDELSSOHN.

sively, and I assure you that your sarcasms did not touch us in the least. You may believe my assurance, that we belong to the better class of our order, and are not a nuisance to other people. Only ask my brother and sister. Nor do I think it difficult to appear merry when one is inwardly happy, and to behave decently when one has been well brought up. I repeat it, I cannot comprehend those couples who are intolerably sentimental. I must not forego the pleasure I have in telling you that your letters have acquired you the affection of Hensel, who formerly, like all the rest of your far-off friends, did not know you. And last, not least, let me thank you for offering to become one of my female friends, and accept my assurance that our friendship will remain unchanged, as my speedy answer may show. My memory, such a bad one for learning, is faithfully retentive for all experiences in life, nor shall new ties or any decree of fate make me forget the friends and companions of my happy youth. Our correspondence, moreover, will gain a new impulse by Felix's visit to England… Take good care of him, and let him find one warm heart for the many he leaves behind!"

In a later letter to the same faithful friend we get another glimpse of her tender relation to her brother, and her anxiety to accommodate herself to his mood in spite of time and distance.

"Here comes again a little request," she says; "Felix will receive by the next courier a parcel containing love-tokens and sentimental keepsakes; be so kind and carry it to him yourself, and take care that it finds him in good humor; and should a copyist or a fly just then have vexed him, better keep it till some better day."

Felix and Klingemann both deserved all the affection which Fanny bestowed upon them. They traveled through Scotland together and were untiring correspondents, send-