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Budapest, Hotel Royal
February 2, 1916
Dear Professor,
Leaving aside the inhibitions, which get in my way in the form of various excuses, I want to report to you again in detail on this evening, when I read your letter aloud to Frau G. More precisely: on the insights which dawned on me in the process.
I presume that I deliberately had Frau G. write the letter to you1 so that you can withdraw the advice you gave me and I can then dissociate myself from this responsibility. That also turned out to be the case to the extent that G.—to whom I now openly admitted my vacillation (in fact—making use of the opportunity—also made confessions from earlier times)—now sees clearly and knows that there is no question of a fait accompli.
A second—not quite so probable—thought then told me that, despite the fact that I do not intend by any means to give up the idea of marriage to Frau G., I wanted—I thought—only to get rid of the compulsion that lay in your advice. In other words: I wanted to know whether I want to marry Frau G. even without this advice, completely spontaneously. I also thought that through this advice—which introduced an element of doubt into my