n us for a little time.

"And you, my dearest of friends, you will send me also a little message,
that I can treasure as a remembrance of bygone days. And you must tell
me also whether what has occurred has deterred you from going farther,
or whether you still remain hoping for better things in the world, and
resolved to do what you can to bring them about. That would be a great
consolation to me, to know that your life still had a noble object. Then
the world would not be quite blank, either for you or for me; you with
your work, I with this poor, kind mother of mine, who needs all the
affection I can give her. Then I hope to hear of you from time to time;
but my mother and myself do not return to England.

"And now what am I to say, being so far away from you, that will sound
pleasant to you, and that you will remember after with kindness? I look
back now over the time since I have known you, and it appears a
beautiful dream--anxious sometimes, and troubled, but always with a
golden future before it that almost bewildered the eyes. And what am I
to say of your goodness, so unvarying and constant; and your
thoughtfulness; and your great unselfishness and outspokenness? When was
there the least misunderstanding between us? I could read your heart
like my own. Only once, you remember, was there a chance of a shadow
coming between us--through my own folly; and yet perhaps it was only
natural for a girl, fancying that everything was going to be smooth and
happy in her life, to look back on what she had said in times of
trouble, and to be afraid of having spoken with too little reserve. But
then you refused to have even the slightest lovers' quarrel; you laughed
away my folly. Do you wonder if I was more than ever glad that I had
given my life into your wise and generous guidance? And it is not now,
when I am speaking to you for the last time, that I can regret having
let you know what my feelings were toward you. Oh, my darling! you must
not imagine, because these words that I am writing are cold and formal,
that my heart beats any the less quickly when I think of you and the
days we were together. I said to you that I loved you; I say to you now
that I love you with my whole heart, and I have no feeling of shame. If
you were here, I would look into your face and repeat it--I think
without a blush; I would kiss you; I would tell you that I honor you;
that I had looked forward to giving you all the trust and affection and