while in return I mean, with her consent, to
address her as Hildegarde.

None need know of this excepting ourselves. It will be, as I conceive, a
secret between us, a bond, a tie, as it were.

Good night, small russet-clad confidante. Prithee be of good cheer! When
next we meet perchance I may have happy news for you.

* * * * *

MAY THE TWENTY-SIXTH.--No entry.

* * * * *

MAY THE TWENTY-SEVENTH.--No entry.

* * * * *

MAY THE TWENTY-EIGHTH.--A terrible, a hideous, an inconceivable
catastrophe has descended upon the devoted head of Fibble!

With a fevered, tremulous hand, with one leg--to wit, the right
one--enclosed in a plaster cast, with a soul racked by remorse, by vain
regrets and by direst apprehensions, I pen the above words. My brain
seethes with incoherent thoughts, my very frame quivers with suffering
and with frightful forebodings. 'Tis with the utmost difficulty that I
manage to inscribe these piteous lines. Yet inscribe them I must and
shall. Should the worst befall, should the dread hand of violence strike
me down ere I have succeeded in fleeing this perilous spot, this
confession shall remain behind, a testimonial, to tell the world and
_her_ that I perished a martyr upon the altars of unrequited affection
and to explain the innate purity of my motives, however far I may have
fallen, in one rash moment of uncontrollable impulse, from the lofty
pinnacles of honour. Though I lie weltering in my gore, my lips forever
closed, my hand forever stilled, the record shall endure to show that I,
the disgraced and the deceased Fibble, would, from the confines of the
silent tomb, beg forgiveness for my criminal indiscretion. I shall write
all! My tears descending as I write bedew the sheet, and beneath my
swimming eyes the lines waver, but in haste I write on, lest the slayer
find me before my final task be done.

We were alone together. We were side by side. Upon a couch we sat in
close juxtaposition. The hour was approximately nine-thirty; the time
two nights agone. I bent toward her, half whispering my words. With all
the fervour of which I am capable I told her I had a request to make of
her; told her that compliance with this request would have a bearing
upon all our future communions, bringing us nearer to each other,
forming a link between us. My executors will understand, after a perusal
of the paragraph