nt things till all but we two
went to bed. Then he sat half-an-hour and said not one word, nor I to
him. At last, in a pitiful tone, "Sister," says he, "I have heard you
say that when anything troubles you, of all things you apprehend going
to bed, because there it increases upon you, and you lie at the mercy of
all your sad thought, which the silence and darkness of the night adds a
horror to; I am at that pass now. I vow to God I would not endure
another night like the last to gain a crown." I, who resolved to take no
notice what ailed him, said 'twas a knowledge I had raised from my
spleen only, and so fell into a discourse of melancholy and the causes,
and from that (I know not how) into religion; and we talked so long of
it, and so devoutly, that it laid all our anger. We grew to a calm and
peace with all the world. Two hermits conversing in a cell they equally
inhabit, ne'er expressed more humble, charitable kindness, one towards
another, than we. He asked my pardon and I his, and he has promised me
never to speak of it to me whilst he lives, but leave the event to God
Almighty; until he sees it done, he will always be the same to me that
he is; then he shall leave me, he says, not out of want of kindness to
me, but because he cannot see the ruin of a person that he loves so
passionately, and in whose happiness he has laid up all his. These are
the terms we are at, and I am confident he will keep his word with me,
so that you have no reason to fear him in any respect; for though he
should break his promise, he should never make me break mine. No, let me
assure you this rival, nor any other, shall ever alter me, therefore
spare your jealousy, or turn it all into kindness.

I will write every week, and no miss of letters shall give us any doubts
of one another. Time nor accidents shall not prevail upon our hearts,
and, if God Almighty please to bless us, we will meet the same we are,
or happier. I will do all you bid me. I will pray, and wish, and hope,
but you must do so too, then, and be so careful of yourself that I may
have nothing to reproach you with when you come back.

That vile wench lets you see all my scribbles, I believe; how do you
know I took care your hair should not be spoiled? 'Tis more than e'er
you did, I think, you are so negligent on't, and keep it so ill, 'tis
pity you should have it. May you have better luck in the cutting it than
I had with mine. I cut it two or three years agone, and it neve