Project Gutenberg's My Secret Life, Volumes I. to III., by Anonymous

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Title: My Secret Life, Volumes I. to III.
1888 Edition

Author: Anonymous

Release Date: October 30, 2009 [EBook #30360]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY SECRET LIFE, VOLUMES I. TO III. ***

Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer (This file was produced
from scans of public domain material produced by Google
Books)

MY SECRET LIFE

By An Anonymous Author

Amsterdam 1888

Privately Printed For Subscribers.

This first reprint of "My Secret Life" is for private distribution
among connoisseur collectors. It is strictly limited to four hundred
and seventy five copies, all of which have been subscribed for prior to
publication.

INTRODUCTION

In 18-- my oldest friend died. We had been at school and college
together, and our intimacy had never been broken. I was trustee for his
wife and executor at his death. He died of a lingering illness, during
which his hopes of living were alternately raised, and depressed. Two
years before he died, he gave me a huge parcel carefully tied up and
sealed. Take care of, but don't open this he said: if I get better,
return it to me, if I die, let no mortal eye but yours see it, and burn
it.

His widow died a year after him. I had well nigh forgoten this packet
which I had had full three years, when looking for some title deeds
I came cross it, and opened it, as it was my duty to do. Its contents
astonished me. The more I read it, the more marvellous it seemed. I
pondered long on the meaning of his instructions when he gave it to me,
and kept the manuscript some years, hesitating what to do with it.

At length I came to the conclusion knowing his idiosyncracy well, that
his fear was only lest any one should know who the writer was; and
feeling that it would be sinful to destroy such a history, I copied the
manuscript and destroyed the original. He died relationless.

No one now can trace the author, no names are mentioned in the book,
though they were given freely in the margin of his manuscript, and I
alone know to whom the initials refer. If I have done ha