Dear Cyndy,

Thank you very much for your letter. If I answer it right away,
"postwendend" as the Germans say, it's because I hope my answer
to your ever helpful question, "What about Charlotte," will help
me get started plotting her itinerary through her predicament, -
to which I cannot yet anticipate any outcome.

I've forgotten whether I described her escape from the suburban
mansion of Judge Adams, trudging long the dark country road with
no inkling of the direction in which she was walking, being picked 
up, rescued, and conveyed to the Döhringhaus in Linnäusstrasse by 
none other than Dorothea Klempner, neé Meißner, "die Andere" 
notorious from my prior novel. Dorothea is all too familiar with 
the house which is presently transiently - or prospectively
permanently Charlotte's home.

Having returned "home", Charlotte is at loose ends. She knows she
is expected, and in fact obligated, to return to Aletheia. She is
appalled and offended by what Aletheia has done to her. She is afraid
to return, and she is afraid not to return. She feints a departure, 
but after only a few desultory steps on the sidewalk of cold, dark 
Linnäusstraße she returns to the Döhringhaus, more discouraged and 
confused than ever. While attempting to regain composure by quasi 
compulsive efforts at meticulous house-keeping and house-cleaning, 
she hears a knock on the door announcing a visit from her admirer 
Moritz Schwiegel, the disenchanted pro-bono lawyer who has sought 
refuge in "philosophy" from the cruelties and absurdities of the 
legal system. Moritz' visit has a dual purpose. Ostensibly he is 
looking for Mengs to whom he wishes to present his reconstruction 
of the occidental philosophical tradition from Aristotle to Max Weber 
and Martin Heidegger as Scholastic Variations on the Reification of
Language, hoping at the same time for an opportunity to chat with
Charlotte.

Moritz is not at all disconcerted that the door is opened not by
Mengs but by Charlotte, nor is he disappointed to be told that
Mengs is away and will not return until late evening. Moritz is,
however at a loss about what to tell Charlotte whom he suspects
of being unimpressed and unconcered about the "philosophical"
quandary with which his mind is cluttered. As Moritz starts to 
explain his "discovery" to Charlotte, it becomes apparent even
to him that he doesn't know what he is talking about, - he can't
read Aristotle because he doesn't know Greek; St. Thomas Aquinas
and the scholastic tradition are opaque to him, because he can't
read medieval Latin; Kant, Weber and Heidegger are beyond his
ken, because he has had only three years of German in college.
  
Moritz Schwiegel is profoundly embarrassed by his lack of knowledge;
but his embarrassment is short-lived, - because much to his surprise
and relief, it turns out that Charlotte is interested in his thesis
after all. Not only is she interested; Charlotte appears to be
knowledgeable about the obscure theory that Moritz has propounded.
He cannot imagine any course of instruction at Altheia University
of the Culinary Arts which would have covered the issues he has 
raised. But at this juncture, Moritz is too embarrassed to ask.
With a new knock on the door, there is a change of scene, Joachim
has come home. Both Charlotte and Moritz are pleased to have him
participate in the conversation.

Do you have any ideas of what should happen next? Here's your
chance to become co-author and achieve literary fame. Creative
dreams are the answer. Stay well and happy; give my best to Ned.

Jochen