Thursday, March 26:
R. got up during the night to look for Rus, whom I believed to be out in the street; he caught cold and is suffering terribly with his foot. Kerosene poultices are applied, and the doctor observes that only a little more was needed for him to have to go through the illness from which Prince Bismarck is at present suffering so much. The letters arrive from Strassburg, completely harmless; now we can be prepared for constant blackmail, but all the same I am happy to have these letters from the earliest times. R. in bed; I went to the house; constant worries. Passed the evening conversing with R. in his room.
Friday, March 27:
R. is feeling better; he has slept well and is in consequence cheerful. He notes with amazement the hairless whiteness of his skin (Fidi has the same) and says that Goethe and Byron were said to have been similar; speaking of Byron’s delicacy, he adds with a laugh, “Byron was the link between the human being and Shelley.” He sings the dialogue between Rocco and Leonore in the second act of Fidelio and says his sister Rosalie sang it to him; that is why it made such a deep impression on him. She had sung it with great rapture and sorrow at not possessing a voice! R. must still remain at home, but the doctor is pleased with his constitution. In the evening I go to the concert with the two eldest girls, since I am without a governess.