In the corner that had been selected for us in the immense dining-room, the dinner, lubricated with champagne, was hilarious and particularly delicious. In honour of Wagner, the proprietress of the hotel, whose outline insistently suggested the fairy Carabosse, had herself superintended its preparation. We prolonged it until a late hour, as it was the last day of the excursion: on the following day we should have to descend again, to take the steamboat and return to Lucerne.
It was only after the return that Wagner confessed that he had been indisposed all through the journey; but he had taken great care not to let us perceive it, in order not to spoil our pleasure.
For several days we had noticed that they treated us with extraordinary respect at the Hôtel du Lac. If we rang, they ran to answer our call before the bell had stopped vibrating, owing to the fact that the servants always remained in the corridor, to take our orders the more quickly. At table, because we had once complimented the master of the hotel on a particularly delicious dish of spinach, they now served us spinach more and more delicious at every meal. When we left our rooms stealthy and curious eyes looked at us through half-open doors along the passage. They saluted us with an obsequiousness most unusual in free Switzerland. They almost appeared to form in line as we passed, and already in the city it was evident that our presence created a strange excitement. Was it because they knew us to be friends of Richard Wagner, and because the jealously-guarded retreat in which he lived was open for us? Certainly no glory appeared to us more enviable, and our just pride equalled our joy. But why should we cause such a commotion amid the placid population of Lucerne? Could it be that we were surrounded by a luminous mist, visible to less fortunate mortals?
When we set sail for the little cape of Tribschen, clouds of other sails, with an appearance of unconcern, put out from the banks to escort us from afar, and as long as we remained at the home of our illustrious host, they increased all about the edges of the grounds, drawing as near as possible.
We had told the Master and Madam Cosima about this, and they were as puzzled as we were. Sometimes we went into the garden, to look through the trees at all those boats, full of tourists, which waited there so stubbornly with that incomprehensible air of expectation.