Monday August 14th (14th August, 1876)

Valkyrie, this time without any trouble; except for an incident which greatly frightens R. He is summoned by the Emperor, who praises everything highly, says jokingly that if he had been a musician, R. would not have been able to get him in there (into the orchestra), regrets not being able to stay longer than the two performances, to which R. replies: Grace is not bound by time and space; The Grand Duchess says she will stay, R.: Then extend the grace; the Emperor jokingly: That was a blow. He takes his leave, takes a step back, doesn’t notice the threshold, stumbles so badly that R. can only hold him back with the greatest effort and is convinced that this fall backward would have meant the death of the imperial master! …