Whenever I received such a letter I read it aloud to the Suttner family, and it was taken as a settled thing that as soon as the castle was completed I was to go to the Caucasus. This work was continually delayed, but we were perfectly satisfied that it was. Life, alternating between Harmannsdorf and Vienna, was so happy! Harmannsdorf, especially, offered us a whole succession of delights. During the hunting season came a throng of guests, and there were dancing and theatricals. In the park was a large hall with stage and dressing rooms. There we performed various dramas and comedies, which were witnessed not only by the Harmannsdorf public and the inhabitants of the neighboring castles, but also by the peasants of the surrounding villages, who came flocking in and filled the theater. Then the harvest and vintage festivals, the excursions to the neighboring Stockern, where also a jolly throng of young people sojourned, and above all the favorite donkey-wagon parties and the stolen moments of confidential tête-à-têtes. The only dissonances that made their appearance in the house sprang from unfortunate business transactions. On the estate of Zogelsdorf, which belonged to Harmannsdorf, were quarries which were operated actively but unprofitably. The new Vienna museums were built from the Zogelsdorf stone, and the statues of Hercules that adorn the Burgtor were chiseled from it; yet a dishonest overseer was the cause of this business resulting in serious losses instead of profit, But the burden of this anxiety rested more on the parents; the children heard little about it and did not take it to heart. The brilliancy of our outward life was not diminished, and our gay and joyous activities went on as usual. Artur Gundaccar and I had sad moments only when we could not succeed in banishing the thought of our approaching separation.... “Oh, no more of that,” one or the other of us would say after such an outburst of grief; “nothing endures forever; let us thank fate for granting us this bit of heaven.” I confided this love story to my mother, who had remained at Graz with her sister. Of course, she urged me either to insist on a marriage or to leave the house; but I quieted her.