In your letter of yesterday to Paul,[92] you said you wished I would write to you again; I therefore do so to-day, but what to write I cannot tell. You have often laughed at me and rallied me because my letters assumed the tone around me or within me, and such is the case now, for it is as impossible for me to write a consistent letter as to recover a consistent frame of mind. I hope that as the days pass on they will bring with them more fortitude, and so I let them pursue their course, and in the society of Paul, and in this lovely country, they glide on monotonously and rapidly. We are all well in health, and sometimes even cheerful. But if I return within myself, which I am always inclined to do, or when we are talking together, the ground-tint is no longer there—not even a black one, far less one of a brighter hue.
A great chapter is now ended, and neither the title nor even the first word of the next is yet written. But God will make it all right one day; this suits the beginning and the end of all chapters.
We intend going to Interlachen in a few days, and towards the end of the month Paul will have begun his journey thence towards home. He enjoys with me the old familiar mountain-summits, which look as hoary as five or twenty-five years ago, and on which Time makes little impression! We shall probably stay in Interlachen for another month, and establish ourselves there; I will, and must, soon attempt once more to begin some regular work, and should like to have made some progress in a composition before my journey home. I hope to find you and yours in good health in September. May we soon meet again, my dear, good Sister! and do not forget your
Felix M. B.
To Paul Mendelssohn Bartholdy.
Interlachen, July 19th, 1847.
My dear Brother,
Scarcely were you gone, when a storm arose, and the thunder and rain were tremendous. Then we dined, and found an unfilled place at table. Then I reflected for two hours on Schiller’s chorus in the ‘Bride of Messina,’ “Say what are we now to do?” and then the children brought the two enclosed letters for you, and said, “I wonder where our Uncle is now!”
But it is no longer any use telling you such commonplace, indifferent things, and yet life is made up chiefly of these. So adieu, till we meet again on the plains or on the mountains. We shall be as happy there as we were here.
It is still thundering, and this is the most dreary day we have had here for many weeks—in every sense!—Your