ten." And then Frau Dr. H. heaved a tremendous sigh as if she were
suffocating, and Ada took me by the arm and said under her breath: "Can
you imagine what my life is like _now_? Her mother is staying the night
here, and she spent the whole evening lamenting about everything under
the sun" (that's what Ada told me just before we went to bed); but I did
not pay much attention to what Frau H. was doing, for I'm positively
burning with curiosity as to what Ada is going to talk to me about.
To-morrow morning, directly after breakfast!

August 12th. For 3 days I've had no time to write, Ada and I have had
such a lot to say to one another. She _can't_ and _won't_ live any
longer without art, she would _rather die than give up her plans_. She
still has to spend a year at a continuation school and must then either
take the French course for the state examination or else the needlecraft
course. But she wants to do all this in Vienna, so that in her spare
time she can study for the stage under Herr G. She says she is not in
love with him any longer, that he is only a _means to an end_. She would
sacrifice _anything_ to reach her goal. At first I did not understand
what she meant by anything, but she explained to me. She has read
Bartsch's novel Elisabeth Kott, the book Mother has too, and a lot of
other novels about artistic life, and they all say the same thing, that
_a woman cannot become a true artist until she has experienced a great
love_. There may be something in it. For certainly a _great love_ does
make one _different_; I saw that clearly in Dora; when she was madly in
love with Viktor, and the way she's relapsed now!! She is learning Latin
again, to make up for lost time! Ada does not speak to her about her
plans because Dora _lacks true insight!_ Only to-day she mentioned
before Dora that whatever happened she wanted to come to Vienna in the
autumn so that she could often go to the theatre. And Dora said: You are
making a mistake, even people who live in Vienna don't go to the theatre
often; for first of all one has very little time to spare, and secondly
one often can't get a seat; people who live in the country often fancy
that everything is much nicer in Vienna than it really is.

August 14th. Just a word, quickly. To-day when Ada was having a bath
Mother said to _us two_: "Girls, I've something to tell you; I don't
want you to get a fright in the night. Ada's mother told me that Ada is
very nervous, and often walks