Thursday, April 8:
R. wakes up crying and lamenting, having dreamed that after a piece of bad behavior on his part I left him. On top of that, sonatas for piano duet played by my father, a lady who mocked him and whom he cuffed on that account, but I, despite all entreaties, inexorably resolved to leave!
Departure at 1 o’clock; the little ones weep bitterly as they take leave of their older sisters; Fidi literally screams. I arrive in Dresden with the two older girls at 10 o’clock. Gloomy mood, how hard the path! I am worried about R. “One feels at times like a complete fool,” he says, thinking of his undertaking.
I write him my thanks for the love and kindness he has shown to the children during these six years, and add an expression of the pain I am feeling.