I also added that our friendship could certainly not continue until she had released herself from so humiliating a position.  The next thing was to get this letter safely delivered.  The information furnished me by the police officials was not sufficient to enlighten me as to what had exactly taken place in the Laussot family, whether they had left home for some length of time or merely for a day, so I simply made up my mind to go to their house.  I rang the bell and the door sprang open; without meeting any one I walked up to the first-floor flat, the door of which stood open, and went from room to room till I reached Jessie’s boudoir, where I placed my letter in her work-basket and returned the way I had come.  I received no reply, and set out upon my return journey as soon as the term of rest granted me had expired.  The fine May weather had a cheering effect upon me, and the clear water, as well as the agreeable name of the Dordogne, along whose banks the post-chaise travelled for some distance, gave me great pleasure.

I was also entertained by the conversation of two fellow-travellers, a priest and an officer, about the necessity of putting an end to the French Republic.  The priest showed himself much more humane and broad-minded than his military interlocutor, who could only repeat the one refrain, ‘Il faut en finir.’  I now had a look at Lyons, and in a walk round the town tried to recall the scenes in Lamartine’s Histoire des Girondins, where he so vividly describes the siege and surrender of the town during the period of the Convention Nationale.  At last I arrived at Geneva, and returned to the Byron hotel, where Karl Hitter was awaiting me.  During my absence he had heard from his family, who wrote very kindly concerning me.  His mother had at once reassured him as to my condition, and pointed out that with people suffering from nervous disorders the idea of approaching death was a frequent symptom, and that there was consequently no occasion to feel anxious about me.  She also announced her intention of coming to visit us in Villeneuve with her daughter Emilie in a few days’ time.  This news made me take heart again; this devoted family, so solicitous for my welfare, seemed sent by Providence to lead me, as I so longed to be led, to a new life.  Both ladies arrived in time to celebrate my thirty-seventh birthday on the twenty-second of May.  The mother, Frau Julie, particularly made a deep impression upon me.  I had only met her once before in Dresden, when Karl had invited me to be present at the performance of a quartette of his own composition, given at his mother’s house.  On this occasion the respect and devotion shown me by each member of the family had delighted me.  The mother had hardly spoken to me, but when I was leaving she was moved to tears as she thanked me for my visit.  I was unable to understand her emotion at the time, but now when I reminded her of it she was surprised, and explained that she had felt so touched at my unexpected kindness to her son.