freely. Without 'Cocotte' the dear woman would never go away."

A great man like Heine must necessarily have such moods about a
little woman like Mathilde; but the important fact remains that for
some twenty years Heine was Mathilde's faithful husband, and that the
commonplace, pretty, ignorant, pleasure-loving, bourgeoise Mathilde
was good and faithful to a crippled, incomprehensible mate. Perhaps,
after all, the wonder in this marriage is even more on the side of
Mathilde than of Heine. Think what such a woman must have had to
forego, to suffer, to "put up with," with such a man--a man, remember,
whose real significance must have been Chinese to her. Surely, all
of us who truly love love by faith, and the love of Heine for
Mathilde, and of Mathilde for Heine, alike is only to be explained by
that mysterious explanation--faith.

That Heine understood his love for Mathilde, so far as any man of
genius can understand his love, and was satisfied with it so far as
any man of genius can be with any love, we may be quite sure. His
many letters about her, and to her, prove it. All the elemental
simplicities of her nature--the very bourgeoise traits which made his
friends wonder--alike interested him, and drew him closer toward her.
When she weaves a rug for his friend Lewald, how seriously he takes
it! He could laugh at all things in heaven and earth, but when
Mathilde weaves a rug for his friend he takes life seriously.

How "domestic" Heine could be is witnessed by a letter of his--to
Mathilde from Hamburg in 1823--in regard to her buying a hat for his
sister and another for his niece--giving careful directions as to
style and price. Mathilde and he had then been each other's for over
eight years, but none the less--nay, let us say all the more--he