—and the major was a fool or worse for holding any intercourse with her. Occupied with such reflections, I reached my room, where I began bitterly to upbraid myself for not having followed the advice of my friend, Zwicker, and gone to the Golden Ox, where—even though it might be amongst Bohemian merchants—I would at least have enjoyed more peace of mind than here; the postillion too was a rogue, and yet perhaps he saved me from future misery by placing me in circumstances in which I obtained a full insight into Florentine’s character. I now threw myself upon my bed, but—such weak-headed fools are men—the lovely Florentine still stood before me in my dreams. I remember to have been dreaming that celestial music floated around me, when Lewis, the waiter, entered my chamber, and dispelled the illusion by informing me, that the regiment which had been lying in garrison had just passed with its band, and that it was ten o’clock, and time for breakfast; he also presented me with a note, for which, he said, an answer had already been twice called for.
I hastily snatched the billet, and found it was from Mrs General Waldmark, my grandmother’s intimate friend. Its purport was, that having casually learned from Mr Zwicker, that an intimate friend of Mr Blum’s had arrived at Klarenburg, she requested the pleasure of a call from me as soon as possible.
On stepping out into the street with the intention of waiting upon Mrs Waldmark, the first sight which met my eyes was Mr Weinlich, the host of the Blue Angel, with his wife and two ladies in an open carriage, and Florentine with the
