Achim von Arnim did not immediately provide a “harbour” for Bettina’s thoughts. Her response shows how fragile their relationship still was at the time. She sensitively withdrew into her inner self. If we compare the draft letter with the one she actually sent, it can shed light on how she dealt with violated intimacy in her communication. In the draft, her initial avoidance of personal address and her explicit refusal to provide any additional information are clear signs of distance. However, the depth of grief expressed quite openly in the draft underscores just how much intimacy she lost. The letter, by contrast, does not provide similar insight into her suffering.

Achim von Arnim showed understanding. On 7 September, before receiving Bettina’s reply, he wrote that he had overlooked “some obligatory, beautiful interludes about the heart-rending truth”. The letter, written in full knowledge of Bettina’s response, sought to undo what had been done:

I was referring to, I was just speculating about words. Who is their master in this world of misunderstandings? Whoever that person is, they have the power to reconcile this world. I saw my opinion as nothing more than the thoughts of a distant observer to whom the wind had blown torn pages from someone’s life story. I do what I can, I hold myself together, but there are always gaps.

Two years later, Bettina told her future husband that she had purchased a “Lukretia” by “Lucas Kranach”. In December 1809, she wrote to Goethe that she had been motivated to buy the painting by “the remarkable similarity between it and my friend Günderrode”. A total of 69 Lucretia paintings are attributed to both Cranach the Elder and Cranach the Younger (51 to the former, 18 to the latter). Based on the details provided by Bettina, her painting was probably one of the two shown here.