Philippe once sat waiting for him in the _atelier_, and answered a knock
at the door. The visitor was delivering his messages to him, when the
artist returned, and was somewhat surprised to find his royal friend
playing the part of _concierge_. "It was not rare to meet in this
_atelier_ the great men of finance, who counted themselves among his
most passionate admirers." Here was conversation, not without gayety,
but without loud laughter or revelry. Scheffer was very fond of music of
the highest order. He was a generous patron of musicians, and loved to
listen to music while he was engaged in painting. His friends sometimes
held an extemporaneous concert in his room, without preparation,
programme, or audience. Think of listening to an _andante_ of Mozart's,
played in that room! "Music doubled her power, and painting seemed
illuminated." Beethoven was his favorite composer; his lofty genius
harmonized with, and satisfied the longings of, Scheffer's aspiring
nature.

Ary Scheffer was a personal friend of the Orléans family. He was,
however, an ardent lover of liberty; and his hospitalities were free to
all shades of opinion. He did not forsake this family when their star
went down. Hearing of the death of Hélène, the Duchess of Orléans, he
hastened to England, to pay a last tribute of love and respect to her
memory. The English climate had always been ungenial to him. He took a
severe cold, which proved fatal in its results. He died soon after his
return to Paris, on the 16th of June, 1858. Sadly as the news of his
death struck upon our hearts, it seemed no great change for him to die.
So pure and holy was his life, so spiritual his whole nature, so lofty
his aspirations, that it seemed as if

"He might to Heaven from Paradise go,
As from one room to another."