The serious and bitter experiences I had had so early in life had
done much to guide me towards that intensely earnest side of my
nature that had manifested itself in my earliest youth. The
effect of these bitter experiences was now to be still further
emphasised by other sad impressions. Not long after Minna had
rejoined me, I received from home the news of the death of my
sister Rosalie. It was the first time in my life that I had
experienced the passing away of one near and dear to me. The
death of this sister struck me as a most cruel and significant
blow of fate; it was out of love and respect for her that I had
turned away so resolutely from my youthful excesses, and it was
to gain her sympathy that I had devoted special thought and care
to my first great works. When the passions and cares of life had
come upon me and driven me away from my home, it was she who had
read deep down into my sorely stricken heart, and who had bidden
me that anxious farewell on my departure from Leipzig. At the
time of my disappearance, when the news of my wilful marriage and
of my consequent unfortunate position reached my family, it was
she who, as my mother informed me later, never lost her faith in
me, but who always cherished the hope that I would one day reach
the full development of my capabilities and make a genuine
success of my life.

Now, at the news of her death, and illuminated by the
recollection of that one impressive farewell, as by a flash of
lightning I saw the immense value my relations with this sister
had been to me, and I did not fully realise the extent of her
influence until later on, when, after my first striking
successes, my mother tearfully lamented that Rosalie had not
lived to witness them. It really did me good to be again in