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Vienna, Tuesday, at the Journal
April 15, 1884
My sweet beloved
What a strange turn things are taking! As you say, “all must change, and live.”1 I am returning your optimism with news that may signify this kind of a change-I don't like grandiloquence, even though I am very deeply moved. In any case, let us say it seems that we have started on the second volume of our highly interesting family chronicle (“Riches”).2 Just listen-it really sounds like a chapter out of Dickens: Paneth and his bride have invested in my name a capital sum of fifteen hundred gulden, of which the interest of eighty-four gulden a year is to be used for an annual trip to Wandsbek, which sum however is to be at my disposal at any time, especially if I were to take a decisive step toward our union by starting, say, a medical practice here or in the country, or by emigrating to America. Of this “foundation,” the interest from which has already started as of April 1, only you are supposed to know. Even the Schwabs know nothing about it. Paneth broke the news to me today and we exchanged some very friendly words in the process. The idea behind it is to enable our marriage to take place six or even twelve months earlier.
There is so much to say about all this which I will let you guess, my darling. In any case I am heavily burdened with obligations