Chère,
I am sad! There is another reception this evening, but I shall not be going to it!
I reread a few pages of my life which I once dictated to Cosima! She sacrifices herself to her father’s habits, - alas!
Could it have been for the last time that I held you in my arms this morning?
No! - I shall see you again - I want to see you! because I love you! - Adieu - Be good to me!
R.
Source: Selected Letters of Richard Wagner, trans. and ed. Stewart Spencer and Barry Millington (W. W. Norton & Company, 1988), No. 442