You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
Freiberg, August 9, 1872
Dear Berganza,
A week has passed since your last letter and I have heard nothing from Your Honor since. I do not know what to make of that; I cannot take offence as Your Honor has not written to the Italian master or to any other of our acquaintances; there is nothing left to me but to fret at your fickleness, or to shudder at your fate. Though I am not so squeamish as to be disturbed by such neglect, I cannot help thinking that you may have been stricken by something, the nature of which I cannot guess. For that reason, and because I do not know whether this note will reach Your Honor, I do not propose to tell Your Honor about my diversions and pastimes; there are more important things at present to concern me, and the most important of all is to know whether Your Honor has gone to Hell. If so, I do not want a reply, but if not, may Your Honor remember his promise to see to the matters I charged him with on board the Neptune.
To keep Your Honor informed about my own life, I am preparing a small travel diary into which all the outings I shall ever make will be crammed. I think of Your Honor every day, and yesterday, finding myself at the inn in Hochwald1 (a paradise without equal, as you will soon observe), I scored two Spanish lines on the table to perpetuate your name “D. Berganza.”
Once I have received confirmation that you are alive and have read