suffer alone and to die just the same. And, what was worse, as we learn
from Legouvé, he let his mistress, the odious Recio, make a scene before
poor Henrietta.[20] Recio told him of it and boasted about what she had
done.

[Footnote 18: "Isn't it really devilish," he said to Legouvé, "tragic
and silly at the same time? I should deserve to go to hell if I wasn't
there already."]

[Footnote 19: _Mémoires_, II, 335. See the touching passages he wrote on
Henrietta Smithson's death.]

[Footnote 20: "One day, Henrietta, who was living alone at Montmartre,
heard someone ring the bell, and went to open the door.

"'Is Mme. Berlioz at home?'

"'I am Mme. Berlioz.'

"'You are mistaken; I asked for Mme. Berlioz.'

"'And I tell you, I am Mme. Berlioz.'

"'No, you are not. You are speaking of the old Mme. Berlioz, the one who
was abandoned; I am speaking of the young and pretty and loved one.
Well, that is myself!'

"And Recio went out and banged the door after her.

"Legouvé said to Berlioz, 'Who told you this abominable thing? I suppose