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trouble on niy account these last few days, for which 

 I really feel ashamed. But most of all I regret to 

 have missed your kind call, which always is an honour 

 as well as a profit and a pleasure. That the Grand 

 Duke should not have been able to find me yesterday, 

 although he drove up and down the Mauerstrasse, 

 and had inquiries made several times, would be 

 indeed inconceivable, if Court servants were not 

 quite a peculiar species. I have lived nearly thirty 

 years, in the best house in the street, in which the 

 Grand Duke, too, has been before, when calling on 

 the Prince Wilhelin of Baden. To-day, then, he 

 found me correctly, and at eight o'clock in the 

 morning too. He was very gracious and obliging, 

 spoke pretty freely, and with much kindliness ; 

 more particularly he mentioned your Excellency's 

 name with the greatest admiration and gratitude. 

 His real motive only appeared quite at the end of 

 his visit. Your Excellency, in referring him to me 

 with it has done me a great honour, but at the 

 same time put me in no small embarrassment. The 

 matter is of importance, and may establish the hap- 

 piness of a worthy man. The request itself does 

 credit to the Grand Duke also, and I shall be very 

 glad if I can be of any service in aiding his noble 

 purpose. I will think about it, and dutifully com- 

 municate to your Excellency the result. On the 

 first impulse I named the young, much gifted H., 

 but to no purpose, as the Grand Duke doubted his 

 proficiency in French. The visit lasted nearly an 

 hour, and the conversation turned upon all sorts of 

 curious themes. My share in it, at least the 

 physical part thereof, can have afforded him but 



