"
"La Mouche," naturally, had a very poor opinion of Madame Heine, and
you need not be a cynic to enjoy this passage with which she opens her
famous remembrances of "The Last Days of Heinrich Heine":
"When I first saw Heinrich Heine he lived on the fifth floor of a
house situated on the Avenue Matignon, not far from the Rond-Point of
the Champs-Elysees. His windows, overlooking the avenue, opened on a
narrow balcony, covered in hot weather with a striped linen awning,
such as appears in front of small cafes. The apartments consisted of
three or four rooms--the dining-room and two rooms used by the master
and the mistress of the house. A very low couch, behind a screen
encased in wall-paper, several chairs, and opposite the door a
walnut-wood secretary, formed the entire furniture of the invalid's
chamber. I nearly forgot to mention two framed engravings, dated
from the early years of Louis Philippe's reign--the 'Reapers' and the
'Fisherman,' after Leopold Robert. So far the arrangements of the
rooms evidenced no trace of a woman's presence, which showed itself
in the adjoining chamber by a display of imitation lace, lined with
transparent yellow muslin, and a corner-cupboard covered with brown
velvet, and more especially by a full-length portrait, placed in a
good light, of Mme. Heine, with dress and hair as worn in her
youth--a low-necked black bodice, and bands of hair plastered down
her cheeks--a style in the fashion of about 1840.
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