PART ONE

PAGE

I. CHILDHOOD 3

My certificate of baptism. The revolution of 1848. Landgrave Fürstenberg. The feather ball. Castle Matzen.

II. EARLY YOUTH 20

Elvira. Playing “puff.” My mother’s singing. Clairvoyant Aunt Lotti. Roulette and trente-et-quarante. Castles in the air. My first journey. Season in Wiesbaden. Return. Grillparzer and Ebner-Eschenbach at Elvira’s. Radetzky’s death. A schoolgirl romance.

III. AN AUTOGRAPH ALBUM 57

Anastasius Grün. Friedrich Halm. Grillparzer. Wagner. Lenau’s sister. Military autographs. King Ludwig of Bavaria. Schiller’s daughter. Liebig. Schücking. Mädler. Körner. Anderssen. Meyerbeer. Rückert. Hebbel. Gregorovius. Lamartine. Victor Hugo. Manzoni. Dickens.

IV. MORE EPISODES OF YOUTH 70

The War of 1859. A prank. Elvira’s marriage.