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Vienna, March 13, 1875
¡Querido Berganza!
I am most surprised that you should have preferred a stay in Cadiz to a visit to Madrid.1 As you see, I accept your terms and congratulate you on your ingenious amendment of my proposal. Am I perhaps to conclude that it is for the sake of your principio? Or have you merely deferred your intention to foot it to Madrid? If that should be the case and you really do reach the capital de España, tierra prometida de la A.E. [capital of Spain, promised land of the Spanish Academy], then please send me a “Cartel des hospital,” meaning a list of university lectures, so that I can see what delights await us there.
The equanimity with which you mention the first kiss you exchanged with your principle strikes me as an evil omen in two respects, first that you accept kisses so easily and second that you take kisses so lightly. It is my duty to draw your attention to a calculation by the famous statistician Malthus,2 who proved that kisses tend to multiply in proportions that increase with such unusual speed that, soon after the beginning of the series, the facial area no longer suffices and [they] are then forced to migrate. For these reasons, Malthus