Wednesday, February 15:
R. had a tolerable night, but is not yet free of his cough. To take his mind off things he reads travel books, and describes Constantinople to me on a drive to Bocca di Falco which he and I take around midday.
At lunch, however, the sudden entrance of Count Tasca embarrasses him so much that he leaves the room congested. In the afternoon he takes a little walk to Camastra while I am with Siegfried. In the evening the doctor tells us it will be a month before S. will be able to move around quite freely.
Rub. visits us in the evening, and R. treats him more gently than he did yesterday, when he told him that friends are people like the Grosses and the mayor, who never think of themselves. — (At lunch yesterday R. said, in connection with Lusch’s journey to Rome, “I am jealous, I cannot bear seeing a person I love being ordered around by other people.”) Today for the first time he again praises the lovely air here. But the ever-increasing expenditure vexes him greatly!