I have just received your second letter, dear Minna, which reached me through Belloni's again, this time somewhat late. To get an answer off by to-day's post, I will be as brief as the subject itself demands.
By all means I prefer your taking the proposed new abode at Herr Müller's, to your remaining in our old parterre; also I agree with you that to take the second would suit us better, than the first étage: as the rent is so moderate, we would rather be able to spend a few louis d'or on having it quite comfortably fitted and neatly done up, especially on a warmable bedroom. For that matter, dear wife, you see things are not half so bad; no doubt indisposition and bad weather contributed much to your despairing so soon in this dwelling affair. Perhaps you may find it possible to defer acceptance a little while, so as to wait and see what information Sulzer brings you, to whom I also wrote yesterday; but if you must decide at once, take the lodgings you speak of: I shall be perfectly satisfied, were it only for the knowledge that it sets my harassed wife at ease.
I've no further news for you to-day, beyond my general flabbiness and dumps. Belloni, I believe, is to arrive here tomorrow. Anders and Kietz, in whose company I often feed, send hearty greetings; Anders in particular has you firm in his heart, clinks his glass to no one else, and tells me of a poem he has made in your honour:
O, herzgeliebte Minna! Du, die stets meinem Sinn nah!
I countersign it, and wish you the best of luck! Farewell and think fondly of
Thy Richard.
Rue de Provence, 59.
Source: Richard to Minna Wagner: Letters to His First Wife, trans. William Ashton Ellis, Vol. 1 (H. Grevel & Co., 1909), No. 32