My Dear Anton!
It's impossible for me to write another letter, with new information, like the one I wrote you recently. My mental and physical exhaustion has no limit.
For about a fortnight I have found refuge here in the country with a family, Dr. Wille's, with whom I became friendly some time ago: I have been afforded the possibility of remaining here until next fall, undisturbed and well taken care of, without being occasioned any expenses for living, with the chance of completing my work. I was invited here at the decisive hour, and I accepted it without delay. I lack one thing for having peace of mind: the knowledge that my wife is taken care of. Every day I expect favourable news on this score from Petersburg. Until then — report this to my wife, give her my regards, and tell her where I am. — I am too weak and unfit now for anything further. Perhaps in the course of this summer there will be some solution for our situation and our future.
Meanwhile, please do whatever rests in your power, and is permitted by your conscience, to be of help to me.
There is a limit to all suffering — and I am close to it. For all fortune has abandoned me entirely!
Good-bye! From my innermost heart I greet you!
Your
Richard Wagner
Source: The Letters of Richard Wagner to Anton Pusinelli, trans. and ed. Elbert Lenrow (Alfred A. Knopf, 1932), No. 33