being the disagreeable person our friends allege her to be. She
is a lively, cheerful woman, with the best of hearts. I explained
to her my mother's wrongs with regard to that part of her portion
which has been withheld from her. She told me the motives and
reasons of her own conduct, and the terms on which she is willing
to give up the whole, and to do more than we have asked. In short,
I cannot write further upon this subject at present; only assure
my mother that all will go on well. And I have again observed,
my dear friend, in this trifling affair, that misunderstandings
and neglect occasion more mischief in the world than even malice
and wickedness. At all events, the two latter are of less frequent
occurrence.

In other respects I am very well off here. Solitude in this
terrestrial paradise is a genial balm to my mind, and the young
spring cheers with its bounteous promises my oftentimes misgiving
heart. Every tree, every bush, is full of flowers; and one might
wish himself transformed into a butterfly, to float about in this
ocean of perfume, and find his whole existence in it.

The town itself is disagreeable; but then, all around, you find an
inexpressible beauty of nature. This induced the late Count M to
lay out a garden on one of the sloping hills which here intersect
each other with the most charming variety, and form the most lovely
valleys. The garden is simple; and it is easy to perceive, even
upon your first entrance, that the plan was not designed by a
scientific gardener, but by a man who wished to give himself up
here to the enjoyment of his own sensitive heart. Many a tear
have I already shed to the memory of its departed master in a
summer-house which is now reduced to ruins, but was his favourite