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Meidling,1 12:45 P.M.
July 23
My little princess
Your card received early this morning; I am so sorry I didn't understand your Hamburgese. Very sweet of you to send me the
five marks, girl; why are we already anticipating the bad times? Please send me a financial report. For your information, I already have a trunk and a traveling bag; Moritz2 has left both with me.
Now to explain the situation. We-Dolfi and I, of course-are lunching here on our great Semmering excursion. At 1:30 we are taking the train to Payerbach,3 then we walk part of the way, spend the night somewhere and return early tomorrow morning. Quite an experience for the little one.
Semmering, 10 P.M.
Everything has gone very well, most glorious weather, excellent butter, honey, and a quarter Gespritzter,* everything at its best. Having thought at the outset that any pleasure without you must be a torture, I ended up by enjoying it myself. We took the road from Klamm into the Adlitzgräben, then on to Semmering. In the Adlitzgräben we came upon a charmingly situated Gasthaus with a dear, tiny little waitress, and Dolfi, with her common sense, suggested spending the night there. But I insisted on going on to the Archduke Johann on the Styrian border.
Now come the adventures. We arrive there; despite hints I fail to ask if we may spend the night. We take another walk, return late-and they won't have us. Now by faint moonlight over the mountain to the hotel, then to the tourist house, to the dairy, no room anywhere; we inquire the way to the Gasthaus but they refuse to believe we can find it in the dark. Finally the innkeeper consents to make up some beds in his little dining room, and here we are eating our supper in peace. Dolfi is holding out very well, she marches like an old soldier, has no fear of “dark forests,” is continually gay and happy and doesn't reproach me in the least although she has every reason for doing so. I have given free play to all the fountains of my irresponsibility: I haven't even br