informed ---- that
he was now independent; but, at the same time, desired him not to
repeat my information to B----; yet last Tuesday he told him all,
and the boy at B----'s gave Mrs. ---- an account of it. As Mr.
---- knew he had only made a confidant of me (I blush to think of
it!) he guessed the channel of intelligence, and this morning came,
not to reproach me,--I wish he had,--but to point out the injury I
have done him. Let what will be the consequence, I will reimburse
him, if I deny myself the necessaries of life, and even then my
folly will sting me. Perhaps you can scarcely conceive the misery I
at this moment endure. That I, whose power of doing good is so
limited, should do harm, galls my very soul. ---- may laugh at
these qualms, but, supposing Mr. ---- to be unworthy, I am not the
less to blame. Surely it is hell to despise one's self! I did not
want this additional vexation. At this time I have many that hang
heavily on my spirits. I shall not call on you this month, nor stir
out. My stomach has been so suddenly and violently affected, I am
unable to lean over the desk."

The sequel of the affair is not known, but this letter, because it is so
characteristic, is interesting.

The advantages social intercourse procured for her were, however, more
than sufficient compensation for the heart-beats it caused her. If there
is nothing so deteriorating as association with one's intellectual
inferiors, there is, on the other hand, nothing so improving as the
society of one's equals or superiors. Stimulated into mental activity by
her associates in the world in which she now moved, Mary's genius
expanded, and ideas but half formed developed into fixed principles. As
Swinburne says of Blake, she was born into the church of rebels. Her
present experience was her baptism. The times were exciting. The effect
of the work of Voltaire and the French philosophers was social upheaval
in France. The rebellion of the colonies and the agitation for reform at
home had encouraged the liberal party into new action. Men had fully
awakened to a realization of individual rights, and in their first
excitement could think and talk of nothing else. The interest then taken
in politics was general and wide-spread to a degree now unknown. Every
one, advocates and opponents alike, discussed the great social problems
of the day.

As a rule, the most reg