An accident at length came to fill the void.
On June 9th (the date is carefully recorded) he met a girl at a ball
in a neighbouring village (Garbenheim), who "made a complete conquest
of him."[124] Her name was Charlotte Buff, the second daughter of an
official of the Teutonic Order--a widower with twelve children.
Charlotte, or Lotte, as he calls her, was of a different type from any
of his previous loves, so that she possessed all the freshness of
novelty. Though only nineteen, she had taken upon her the care of the
numerous household, and discharged her duties with a motherly tact and
good sense which excited general admiration. Over Lotte's personal
appearance Goethe is not rapturous as in the case of Friederike; he
simply says that she had a light and graceful figure, and in the same
cool tone remarks that she was one of those women who do not inspire
ardent passion, but who give general pleasure. So he chose to say in
the retrospect, but neither his contemporary words nor actions permit
us to believe that his feeling to Lotte was merely a calm regard. In
the case of Lotte his situation was materially different from what it
had been in the case of Friederike.
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