His affairs were getting into a discouraging state.

The illness was certain to entail a loss of more than $50,000 to his business.

His only consolation came through Harrison's synopsis of the reports from Gardner, who was managing the brief American tour of the Viennese orchestra.

Quarrels and dissensions were becoming every-day embarrassments, and the venture was an utter failure from a financial point of view.

Broken contracts and lawsuits were turning the tour into one continuous round of losses, and poor Gardner was on the point of despair.