Werther meets Heinrich one day while Heinrich is foolishly attempting to gather wildflowers for his “sweetheart” in the winter. Coming upon Werther and Heinrich, the Old Woman on the Path informs Werther that Heinrich has spent the last several months in an asylum. Despite his eccentricity, Heinrich is a pleasant man. Towards the end of the novel, Werther claims that it was unrequited love for Lotte that drove Heinrich to madness, but he offers no source for this claim.