Saturday, May 27:
Our main topic of conversation today is Richard II; R. has been reading to himself the return from Ireland, and he cannot speak too highly in its praise. “He is my only spiritual friend,” he says of Sh.
We drive out to the Eremitage, where R. has the fountains turned on, and this gives us tremendous pleasure. From there to the theater, where R. discusses various things with Brandt. On our return home we find a very nice letter from a Frenchman, which touches R. tremendously; he asks me to dictate a reply to him, and when this is done, he remains in a very animated mood, extolling his happiness but continually saying that it arrived fifteen years too late. Wolz. comes over in the evening, and R. speaks to him quite openly, saying how much it weighs on him to have persuaded him to settle here, since he cannot bring himself now and again to share our travels. To Gobineau he also talks very animatedly, trying to persuade him to share our life completely.