tice:--

_Past Twelve o'clock, Monday night._

I obey an emotion of my heart which made me think of wishing thee,
my love, good-night! before I go to rest, with more tenderness than
I can to-morrow, when writing a hasty line or two under Colonel
----'s eye. You can scarcely imagine with what pleasure I
anticipate the day when we are to begin almost to live together;
and you would smile to hear how many plans of employment I have in
my head, now that I am confident my heart has found peace in your
bosom. Cherish me with that dignified tenderness which I have only
found in you, and your own dear girl will try to keep under a
quickness of feeling that has sometimes given you pain. Yes, I will
be _good_, that I may deserve to be happy; and whilst you love me,
I cannot again fall into the miserable state which rendered life a
burden almost too heavy to be borne.

But good-night! God bless you! Sterne says that is equal to a
kiss, yet I would rather give you the kiss into the bargain,
glowing with gratitude to Heaven and affection to you. I like the
word affection, because it signifies something habitual; and we are
soon to meet, to try whether we have mind enough to keep our hearts
warm.

I will be at the barrier a little after ten o'clock to-morrow.

Yours,
----

The reason for this step was probably the fact that it was not safe for
her to continue in Paris alone and unprotected. The robbers in the woods
at Neuilly might be laughed at; but the red-capped _citoyens_ and
_citoyennes_, drunk from the first draught of aristocratic blood, were no
old man's dangers. The peril of the English in the city increased with
every new development of the struggle; but Americans were looked upon as
stanch brother citizens, and a man who had fought for the American
Republic was esteemed as the friend and honored guest of the French
Republic. As Imlay's wife, Mary's safety would therefore be assured. The
murderous greed of the people, to break out in September in the _Law of
the Suspect_, was already felt in August, and at the end of that month
she sought protection under Imlay's roof, and shielded herself by his
name.

She could not at once judge of the manner in which this expedient would
be received. It was impossible to hold any communication with England.
For eighteen months after her letter to Mr. Johnson,