believe me, he is not unworthy of your sister.... I really esteem
him, though I cannot at present be called his friend. He loves your
Lotte and I know he loves her like a noble man, and your Lotte loves
him like a girl that loves for the first time.

But the foolish dreams were not so easily to be given their quietus,
especially when he discovered that Lotte was only half in love with
Winkelmann after all. Then there seemed hope for him and he surrendered
himself freely to the intoxication of his little summer romance. What
were the world and a poet's fame in comparison with happiness? Still he
did not declare himself. He often called Frau von Wolzogen 'mother', and
averred in letters that no son could love her better. Probably a word
from her might have led to an engagement. But the word was not spoken.
She was a sensible lady, who knew how to look into the future and to
guard the welfare both of her daughter and of her protege. She saw that
if he was to make his way in the world as a dramatist he must return to
the world; a prolongation of the Bauerbach idyl could lead to nothing
but disappointment and unhappiness. Besides, his incognito had now
become only a conventional fiction; everybody knew who he was.

One day, accordingly, as they were walking together, she suggested that
he pay a visit to Mannheim and see what could be done with Dalberg. He
resolved to follow her advice. Late in July he set out, promising
himself and her a speedy return. But it was not so to be. Becoming
absorbed in the business of a new career he continued, indeed, to think
of her affectionately and to write to her, but at ever-increasing
intervals; and after a few months Bauerbach and the Wolzogens were only
a delightful memory. It is true that after the lapse of nearly a year he
one day took it into his head to suggest to the mother that she take him
for a son-in-law. But the wooing went no further. After all he had not