there.

August 1st. I got a letter from Ada to-day. She sends me many happy
returns, for she thinks it is on the 1st of August, and then comes the
chief thing. She is frightfully unhappy. She writes that she wants to
escape from the cramping environment of her family, she simply can't
endure _the stifling atmosphere of home_. She has been to St. P. to
see the actor for whom she has such an admiration, he heard her recite
something and said she had real dramatic talent; he would be willing
to train her for the stage, but only with her parents' consent. But of
course they will never give it. She writes that this has made her _so
nervous_ she feels like crying or raving all day long, in fact she can't
stand so dismal a life any longer. _I_ am her last hope. She would like
me to come to stay with them, or still better if she could come and stay
with us for two or 3 weeks, then she would tell Mother about everything,
and perhaps it might be possible to arrange for her to live with us in
Vienna for a year; in the autumn Herr G., the actor, is coming to the
Raimund Theatre and she could begin her training there. At the end of
her letter she says that it rests with my discretion and my tact to make
her the happiest creature in the world! I don't really know what I
shall be able to do. Still, I've made a beginning; I said I found it
so frightfully dull--if only Hella were here, or at least Ada, or
even Marina. Then Mother said: But Marina is away in the country, in
Carinthia, and it's not likely that Ada will be able to come. Father,
too, is awfully sorry that I find it so dull, and so at supper he said:
Would you really like Ada to come here? Certainly her age makes her a
better companion for you than Dora. You seemed to get on better together
last year. And then he said to Mother: Do you think it would bother you,
Berta, to have Ada here? and Mother said, "Not a bit; if Gretel would
like it; it's really her turn now, Dora came with me to Franzensbad,
Oswald is having his walking tour, and only our little pet has not had
anything for herself; would you like it Gretel?" "Oh yes, Mother, I
should like it awfully, I'll write directly; it's no fun to me to carry
about that little brat the way Dora does, and jolly as the Bad Boy's
Diary is I can't read it all day." So I am writing to Ada directly,
just as if _I_ had thought of it and wanted her to come. I shall be so
frightfully happy if it all comes off and if Ada really becomes a g