Dear Marion,

The primary and immediate purpose of this letter is to
wish you a satisfactory visit and a safe and comfortable trip
to the farm. Perhaps I'm too late because you've already left
your office.

The Goethe quotation which perplexed you, Gegen die grossen Vorzuege
eine Anderen gibt es kein Rettungsmittel als die Liebe, seems to me
to express a profound and fundamental truth about human relationships.
The merit alluded to is quite non-specific and impersonal. In our
situation it might indeed appertain to my sister; it might even
appertain to you. That's not for me to decide. I try to avoid
judgments, either about myself or about my sister or about my cousin.

As I speak with various of Margrit's friends on the 'phone and as I
read their letters, it comes home to me, how remote I was from her
life, how little I know about who she was, and I conclude that it
behooves me not to talk about a person of whom I know so little.
Margrit's feelings for me are summarized in the letter to Margaret
of which I sent you a copy. My feelings about her are expressed in
my conduct in the last three months.

As I have recently written to you perhaps more than once, I want
try to get back to my writing. There I have the opportunity to 
describe my world as I understand it. I ask for nothing more.

Happy New Year.
Jochen