230
DOC.
233
JULY
1916
233. To
Michele
Besso
[Berlin,]
14 July 1916
Dear
Michele,
First
of all
I
thank
you
from
the bottom
of
my
heart
for
being
such
a
loyal
helper
to
my
children and
my
wife.
From
your
letter
it
appears
that
my
wife
really
does
seem
to be
seriously ill.[1]
At first
I
regarded
it
as
obvious
that
I must
travel there but
after careful reflection
am
now
of another
opinion.
If
I
go
to
Zurich, my
wife will
demand
to
see me.
This
I
would have
to
refuse, partly
on
an
inalterable
resolve, partly
also
to
spare
her the
agitation.
The
children
on
their
part
would
perceive
it
as
an
unbearable unkindness
if I
did not
fulfill
this
wish.
Besides, you
know
that the
personal
relations between
the
children
and
me
deteriorated
so
much
during
my
stay at
Easter
(after
a
very promising
start)[2]
that
I
doubt
very
much whether
my presence
would
be
reassuring
for
them.
So
if
my
wife
can
stay
at home and continue
to
manage
the
household,
then
I
won’t
come
at
all.
If
my
wife
must
go
to
the
hospital, however,
I’m
very willing
to meet
the
children
at
a
neutral
place, e.g.,
in
Schaffhausen,
and
spend
the
holidays
with
them. In
this
case, though,
after the
bad
experiences
at
Easter,
I would avoid
coming
to Zurich.
Dear
Michele,
I
understand
your
remark
about the
effect
of “emotional
ten-
sion”
as
the
cause
of
the
present circumstances;
this
is
a
fair
hypothesis.[3]
But
I
personally
have
the
suspicion
that the
woman
is
leading
both
of
you
kindhearted
men
down
the
garden
path.[4]
For she
is not
afraid
to
use
all
means
when she
wants to
achieve
something.
Unfortunately
it can’t be
determined
clearly
in
ret-
rospect
whose
impression
is
more
true to
the
mark.
But
as
the burned
child,
I
really ought
to
know
the
fire
better.
It
is true
that
I
obviously
can’t
deny
the
possibility
that the
woman
really is ill.
But
last
year
it
was
similar
with
the little
one,
at
Easter with Albert.
I
always
had
to
listen
to
the
most
dubious
excuses,
always
at
the
beginning
of
the
vacation
period,
that
is,.......
Dear Michele,
you
have
no
idea of
the natural
craftiness
of
such
a woman.
I
would have been
physically
and
mentally
broken if
I
had not
finally
found
the
strength
to
keep
her
at arm’s
length
and out of
sight
and earshot. Didn’t
you
feel at
our
last
meeting
that
you
had
an
emotionally
more
stable
fellow
before
you
than
formerly,
one
who
again
has
a
harmless
joy
in sheer existence?
Perhaps
I
shall
see
the
day,
after
all,
when
your
eyes are
opened
to
these
things.
Now
please
just keep
me
up-to-date
on
the
state of affairs
by
postcard,
while
ignoring
the
continuity
of
the
substance of
your
remarks. In
the
age
of quantum
theory
this
is
all
the
more
permissible.