[...] It is nearly four weeks since I took leave of my wife and not the slightest news of her has yet reached me. [...] My anxiety is inexpressible. [...]
I have fled from Paris out of repugnance to staying there when it can be no use to me. Cholera was raging when I left. Before going, I wrote to Minna and told her of my intention of settling with her in Zurich for a time. I hope she may listen to my entreaty and decide to rejoin me there. All preparations have been made on my part. From various sources Liszt is arranging for a safe yearly income which will in any case secure us a quiet life in a most charming place of residence. From there I shall attend to my affairs in Paris. The profits I expect from there, if I am lucky, I intend to devote wholly to wiping off the debts I left in Dresden. [...]
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner, Vol. 1, selected and ed. Wilhelm Altmann, trans. M. M. Bozman (J. M. Dent & Sons, 1927), No. 152