Tuesday, March 22:
Hohenzollern weather, that is to say, snow at the beginning of spring! When R. wishes me good morning, I tell him how beautiful he is; he replies gaily, in the tone of Bottom, “Not so, neither,” which leads us to talk about this scene in Shakespeare. Then he goes off, first to his reading (Gobineau), later to his score.
Lunch and coffee pass without any particular conversations, except that R. advises Jouk. against giving Russia anything more than an expression of his submission. Toward 4 o’clock Brandt and the Bruckner brothers; much of a technical nature; Brandt excellent as always. When they have all gone, R. and I wax very merry over our curious contacts with such peculiar creatures as the worthy painters. But when R. offers me his pity for having had to spend most of the time with them, I declare how easy and pleasant such an obligation is, which produces something useful, as compared with the usual social obligations; and at the same time I can tell myself proudly that I am taking something off his shoulders! (When Rub. and Humperdinck sang the Flower Maidens yesterday, R. said, if not Flower Maidens, then at any rate Radish Boys!)