SONGS OF LA MOUCHE
opportunity of calling upon him in the Avenue Matignon. He was entirely confined to his bed by the disease that ultimately proved fatal, and found pleasure in her brightness and in the activity of her mind. He begged her to repeat her visits, and under the name of "La Mouche," she acted as his secretary, companion, and translator of his poems into French.
This association was only broken in June, 1855, by a journey to the Black Forest, undertaken on account of her health. After her return in July, her visits to Heine were of almost daily occurrence, in spite of the jealousy of his wife, "Frau Mathilde," who saw the place she had voluntarily resigned in her daily search for pleasure, filled by another.
After Heine's death, on February 17th, 1856, Meissner was sent to Paris by the publishers, to save, if possible, Heine's papers from the destructive activity of his wife. Whilst engaged upon this work, he again met his "Margot," whose identity with Heine's "Mouche" he had not suspected. She took him to her home, poured out before him the letters and poems sent to her by the poet, and permitted him to publish some of them in his memoir of Heine.
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