Thursday, January 27:
R. had a good night, and when I am in my bath, he comes to the door and, standing outside, imitates Siegfried's voice bidding me good morning. Our conversation at breakfast revolves around yesterday's reading, which brought Cervantes so close to us again. A letter from Jouk.'s sister, which R. saw on my desk and read, also provides material for a serious discussion.
When, around lunchtime, I go through the salon, R. is sitting at his writing desk, and he calls out to me: “Do you know why I am so absent-minded? Because I think too much about you.” And to this he adds such words that, back in my room, I beseech the God who has allotted all this to me to grant me humility.
The mail brings all sorts of things, including a letter from Lusch, after reading which R. exclaims, “She is a genius!” We go for a walk, R. and I, in spite of the windy weather, watch Fidi, who, almost alone on the ice, is tracing his curves, and who amuses R. by telling him that he trod on a pair of spectacles at Herr Popp's, but they had cost only 80 pfennigs. He has given young Giessel — also to R.'s great amusement — 20 pfennigs for magic tricks, and he tells us the boys have advised the magician to buy herrings with it.
Before our walk Jouk. showed us his sketch of the Grail, which won R.'s approbation. In the afternoon, as a result of my request to Herr v. B[iirkel], sketches of the same subject arrive from Munich and turn out to be completely unusable.
In the evening we read Gobineau's story La Danseuse, and afterward, in my room, R. asks me whether family affairs upset me. I: “No.” Then he tells me he has received a telegram from Prof. Frege, saying he is returning the letters without passing them on.
After we remark with a fleeting smile on such courageousness, long discussion about what to do. I end by saying to R. that everything he wishes or does is acceptable to me, even if I expect blessings only from what goes on between ourselves, sheltered from the world, and none at all from what we attempt outside.
After lengthy and sustained discussions we go off to bed.