Saturday, July 15:
R. asks after Molly; Georg tells him that we must be prepared for the worst. He goes into the garden around lunchtime, sits down in the arbor, notices Marke sniffing at the grave! At table, where we are alone, he utters the name, and we burst into tears, realizing that he knows all. He thanks us for not having told him...
Toward two o'clock my father arrives, met by the children and looking well — we are overjoyed to see him! While the children and I are keeping him company during his meal, R. joins us, stands for a while unnoticed behind my father's chair, and whispers to me, Die Mutter! Our dog came into my mind, too, yesterday when I heard those words! When I return to my room as my father is resting, I hear R. calling out “Molly!” in the garden and sobbing. I rush to him, and we weep together in the arbor.... Then we go to the costume session for the first and second acts. R. is so delighted by my father's presence that he hurries to me from the stage and says this is his only genuine relationship! We eat in the restaurant, between the first and second acts. The late evening, following the rehearsal, we spend with my father, Stein, and Jouk. (Reminded by the terrible example of Molly, R. comes back to the need for Fidi to study animal surgery.)