Dear Friend:
If in the meantime letters addressed to me should be delivered to you, be so kind as to receive and keep them for the time being. Later on I will write and tell you where they should be forwarded.
Where I am going must still remain a secret for you as well as for every one of my friends. I am retiring into solitude in order quietly to get comfort and healing for my serious wounds. Let me be alone—this is my request to all of you. Soon you will know about the serious crisis of my life which of necessity I have to face now.
Farewell! Don't be angry with me for my deception!
Your
Richard Wagner
The messenger is paid.
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner: The Burrell Collection, ed. John N. Burk (Macmillan, 1950), No. 92