earnestness quite out of the common. He was, moreover, well
educated, and eagerly assimilated information, and was very
straightforward, earnest, and trustworthy. Without attaining to
the same degree of intimacy with us as our three older friends,
he was, nevertheless, one of the few who continued to stand by us
in our troubles, and habitually spent nearly every evening in our
company.

One day I received a fresh surprising proof of Laube's continued
solicitude on our behalf. The secretary of a certain Count
Kuscelew called on us, and after some inquiry into our affairs,
the state of which he had heard from Laube at Karlsbad, informed
us in a brief and friendly way that his patron wished to be of
use to us, and with that object in view desired to make my
acquaintance. In fact, he proposed to engage a small light opera
company in Paris, which was to follow him to his Russian estates.
He was therefore looking for a musical director of sufficient
experience to assist in recruiting the members in Paris. I gladly
went to the hotel where the count was staying, and there found an
elderly gentleman of frank and agreeable bearing, who willingly
listened to my little French compositions. Being a shrewd reader
of human nature, he saw at a glance that I was not the man for
him, and though he showed me the most polite attention, he went
no further into the opera scheme. But that very day he sent me,
accompanied by a friendly note, ten golden napoleons, in payment
for my services. What these services were I did not know. I
thereupon wrote to him, and asked for more precise details of his
wishes, and begged him to commission a composition, the fee for
which I presumed he had sent in advance. As I received no reply,
I made more than one effort to approach him again, but in vain.