noon
He seemed to his sister ten years younger . She saw in his every feature how deeply the music had affected him . She knew her imperial brother . Had not his heart and soul been fully absorbed by the flood of pure and noble tones which so unexpectedly streamed toward him , his eyes would have been at least briefly attracted by the dish which Count Krockow more than once presented , for it contained an oyster ragout which a mounted messenger had brought that noon from the Baltic Sea to the city on the Danube . Yet many long minutes elapsed ere he noticed the dish , though it was one of his favourite viands . Barbara 's song stirred the imperial lover of music at the nocturnal banquet just as it had thrilled the great musicians a few hours before . He thought that he had never heard anything more exquisite , and when the Benedictio Mensa : died away he clasped his sister 's hand , raised it two or three times to his lips , and thanked her with such affectionate warmth that she blessed the accomplishment of her happy idea , and willingly forgot the unpleasant moments she had just undergone .