Tuesday 8 March 2011

...of assent

It was a mild evening, and a thaw was approaching, so Lotte and Albert returned on foot. During the walk, she looked about her at points, for all the world as if she missed Werther's company. Albert began to speak of him, and, remaining scrupulously fair, censured Werther. He touched upon his unhappy passion, and wished it were possible to be rid of him. - 'I wish it for our own sake's, too,' he said, and continued: 'and I'd ask you to see that he behaves rather differently towards you, and cuts down on these frequent visits. People are starting to notice, and I know that here and there it is talked about.' - Lotte was silent, and Albert seemed to feel her silence; at all events, from that time he no longer made any mention of Werther to her, and if she did so he either dropped the conversation or changed the subject.

[The Sorrows of Young Werther, Goethe, J W v.]

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