Friday, May 14:
R. delighted with the house and the children. He also tells me in the morning of his dream: his relations with Bismarck were downright affectionate, and on parting Bismarck’s face was so transfigured that R. said to himself, “No one else knows this face.” Over coffee I read in the newspaper that Hans has been deprived by fraud of much more than 10,000 thalers, his complete salary for work extending over two years! This news saddens me to the point almost of losing my equilibrium; when, if only for a moment, one abandons that attitude of complete resignation toward all things, there comes a blow like this to lead one back to a state of sad calm. How heavy, how harsh! In the evening read Timaeus again, the first book I have had in my hands for a long time. A prayer that good may triumph leads us to the Oresteia, and a glance into that work strikes absolute terror into our hearts! In the evening Marke and Brange stationed in front of the door to the salon in the moonlight, a very lovely sight!