Sunday, August 29:
Mosquitoes ruin the night for us. R., severely affected by it, faces the day in a spirit of disgruntlement, for if he does not sleep at night, he is usually unable to rest during the afternoon. Gray skies dominate the day, but R. decrees a walk through the vineyards, and this turns out to be very delightful and beneficial.
In the evening he reads to us the 4th act of Faust, Part Two. When at the end Lusch admits to me that she has been unable to follow it, R. says she is quite right, for the main points are dealt with so incidentally and fleetingly that one needs only to breathe heavily to lose the thread; and all the details are so painfully drawn out, the description of hills and valleys, then the Court ceremonies and the two appearances of the three mighty men. But the monologue and the following scene between Mephisto and Faust produce all their old effect, and the scene between Mephisto and the student, which R. read beforehand, enchants us anew.