s, that your
dear husband's extreme loneliness had made a fatal impression upon the
unoccupied mind of our artist, has proved, on a nearer inspection of
the facts and circumstances, entirely untenable. You must erase this
conquest from the list of my victories, which thereby is considerably
diminished. That we heard nothing of our friends for years, that
they did not even inform us of their marriage and only remembered
the old friendship a short time ago, arose from entirely different
reasons--concerning which I have promised to keep silence, even to you,
although to do so will be difficult enough. I have so accustomed myself
to sharing everything with you, not keeping in my mind and heart even
the smallest 'arriere-boutique,' as Montaigne calls it, closed to you,
that I should have preferred not to learn, the strange circumstances
through which these two people have found each other, at the cost of
being compelled to conceal them from you, my beloved keeper of the
Great Seal, especially as I know that this time, too, we should have
agreed in our judgment and feelings._

"_Oh! dearest! the hour in which our old friend broke at last the seal
of the dark secret he had kept so long, because he could not endure
that there should be a mystery between us, the way in which he told the
unspeakable secret, how he conquered hopeless despair by his deep,
earnest love--never, never will the smallest syllable of this
confession vanish from my memory. How these two mortals have battled
for their happiness, nay how bravely they must still daily defend
themselves against the ghosts of the past! Never have I heard a more
touching story than the account of his ceaseless quest of the lost one,
after he had at last found her in the most sequestered corner of the
world, his unwearied persistency, which nothing could rebuff, to make
her again accustomed to the light of day, the vital warmth of her
profession and his faithful love. For the first time I have learned to
thoroughly know this strange man, and understand how he was able to
accomplish the tremendous task of saving for the second time, this
apparently lost life. How much I should like to show you my old friend,
as I know him, one of the best, noblest, and most unselfish heroes, I
have ever met. For do not suppose that, blinded by his passion, without
a struggle and only keeping the object of possessing her before his
eyes--but enough, I'm on the way to say more than I am permitted t