appeared but the secret reflex of his own spirit, his soul seemed
suddenly to become one with hers. "From that hour I loved you. I have
never seen or heard your name without a shiver, half of delight, half of
anxiety. The impression left upon my mind was that you were still a
wife." (No such scruple had disturbed him in the case of Mrs. Osgood and
others.) He goes on thus artfully to explain the incident of his
declining Mrs. Osgood's offer of an introduction to Mrs. Whitman while
in Providence. "For this reason I shunned your presence. You may
remember that once, when I passed through Providence with Mrs. Osgood, I
positively refused to accompany her to your house. I dared neither go,
or say why I could not. I dared not speak of you, much less see you.
_For years_ your name never passed my lips, while my soul drank in with
a delirious thirst all that was uttered in my presence respecting you."

It will be observed that he is here speaking of a time when his wife,
whom he "loved as man never before loved," was yet living; and also when
he was giving himself up to his unreasoning passion for Mrs. Osgood,
whom he had followed to Providence.

After this, who shall undertake to defend Poe from the charge of
insincerity and dissimulation?

Mrs. Osgood calls Poe's letters "divinely beautiful." We cannot tell how
Mrs. Whitman was affected by them, but certainly her whole course
exhibits her in a constant struggle between her own inclination and the
influence of friends who desired to save her from the match with Poe. As
early as January 21, 1848, it was known to the public that an engagement
existed between the two, and I have the authority of Mrs. Kellogg for
the statement that during the summer of that year Mrs. Whitman three
times renewed this engagement and was as often compelled to break it,
owing to his unfortunate habits. The last engagement was made on his
solemnly vowing reformation; on which a day was fixed for the marriage
and the services of a clergyman bespoken by Poe himself, who thereupon
wrote to Mrs. Clemm desiring her to be ready to receive himself and his
bride--at Fordham!

One may imagine the dismay of poor Mrs. Clemm when she read this letter
and looked around the humble home with its low-ceiled upstairs room,
which had been Virginia's; the pine kitchen table and her dozen pieces
of crockery. For once her strong mind and resourceful talent must have
failed her. How was she to accommodate the fastidious