[...] Do give up the fatal idea that I have some secret design against you, that I intend to get rid of you unawares, or the like. For the sake of a better, purified, more peaceful future for us both, I thought it best we should separate at present for a while, to avoid just that very thing which, to my grief, you are always harping on. My intentions were true and honourable in everything I said to you and alleged on that point. I reproach myself very bitterly for having let the heat of the moment betray me into meeting you with harshness and saying wounding and injurious things. It is this that you have to forgive me for, and my penitence is heartfelt. But for the future nothing shall shake my resolution to spare you any wound or slight. That is why I say to you, don't try to draw me on any more; it is useless and you cannot provoke me; I shall never meet you otherwise than mildly and kindly. As to my silence on certain matters, it is not my purpose to deceive you, but I am silent because they are not meet for discussion between us and ought simply to be completely ignored and forgotten. That is my sole reason for not answering on the point. Believe me! I have made a final vow to myself on this matter! [...]
Source: Letters of Richard Wagner, Vol. 2, selected and ed. Wilhelm Altmann, trans. M. M. Bozman (J. M. Dent & Sons, 1927), No. 374