He courted her in the cruelly hot summer of 1867 when he was stationed outside Linz. From a youthful diary entry:
“She wanted to be expressive, yes, but her cheeks, surging with ever more pliant flesh as she lumberingly metamorphosed into what every lady of the Bildungsbürgertum must eventually become (immovable), made even wrath (she hated it when I forgot the buttermilk!) seem mild. She was free to nurture immeasurable intensity within without worrying that her face would betray her true judgments…. Everyone liked her. Everyone distrusted me.”
