Wednesday, April 26:
A restless night for R., caused by the telegram. When I greet him at breakfast, he is reading a conversation in Die Serapionsbrüder, and he says, “The worst German book means more to me than the best French one - in German some mystical chord is touched of which others show no trace.” But then he observes I should not take this too literally. All the same, we read with interest the remarks on quietism and the awesome quotation from Father Molinos.
Yesterday R. remarked that in his opinion the only consummate masterpiece is the Oresteia, though it is true that the Athenian people are in part responsible for that. He dictates to Boni his reply to Herr Batz, whose dropping out makes him very glad. But unfortunately he suffers another chest spasm on going out. Lusch tells me of a letter from her father which fills me with mournful alarm; the manner in which he announces his engagement seems to me worrisome; I tell Lulu what to reply.
The weather is bad, we stay indoors and play whist, and R. reads another story by E. T. A. Hoffmann. In the conversation in Die Serapionsbrüder he found something which interests him greatly in relation to “Male and Female.”