length were the too visible marks of my strange confusion!

"The whole confab I will tell you, word for word if I can
when I see you which God send, may be soon."

After this, he dates his letters at "Devilsburg," instead of
Williamsburg, and says in one of them, "I believe I never told you
that we had another occasion." This time he behaved more creditably,
told "Belinda" that it was necessary for him to go to England,
explained the inevitable delays and told how he should conduct himself
until his return. He says that he asked no questions which would admit
of a categorical answer--there was something of the lawyer in this
wooing! He assured Miss Rebecca that such a question would one day be
asked. In this letter she is called "Adinleb" and spoken of as "he."

Miss Burwell did not wait, however, until Jefferson was in a position
to seek her hand openly, but was suddenly married to another. The news
was a great shock to Jefferson, who refused to believe it until Page
confirmed it; but the love-lorn swain gradually recovered from his
disappointment.

With youthful ardour they had planned to buy adjoining estates and
have a carriage in common, when each married the lady of his love,
that they might attend all the dances. A little later, when Page was
also crossed in love, both forswore marriage forever.

For five or six years, Jefferson was faithful to his vow--rather an
unusual record. He met his fate at last in the person of a charming
widow--Martha Skelton.

The death of his sister, his devotion to his books, and his
disappointment made him a sadder and a wiser man. His home at Shadwell
had been burned, and he removed to Monticello, a house built on the
same estate on a spur of the Blue Ridge Mountains, five hundred feet
above the common level.

He went often to visit Mrs. Skelton who made her home with her father
after her bereavement. Usually he took his violin under his arm, and
out of the harmonies which came from the instrument and the lady's
spinet came the greater one of love.

They were married in January of 1772. The ceremony took place at "The
Forest" in Charles City County. The chronicles describe the bride as a
beautiful woman, a little above medium height, finely formed, and with
graceful carriage. She was well educated, read a great deal, and
played the spinet unusually well.

The wedding journey was a strange one. It was a hundred miles from
"The Forest" to Monticello, and years