Vienna, December 21, 1899
IX., Berggasse 19

Dear Wilhelm,

One more cordial greeting before Christmas, usually one of our times for a congress. I am not without one happy prospect. You are familiar with my dream which obstinately promises the end of E.'s treatment (among the absurd dreams), and you can well imagine how important this one persistent patient has become to me. It now appears that the dream will be fulfilled. I cautiously say “appears,” but I am really quite certain. Buried deep beneath all his fantasies, we found a scene from his primal period (before twenty-two months) which meets all the requirements and in which all the remaining puzzles converge. It is everything at the same time — sexual, innocent, natural, and the rest. I scarcely dare believe it yet. It is as if Schliemann had once more excavated Troy, which had