measure blend in the same venture, the same undertaking? Which
will triumph over the other? I soon shall know. This afternoon I
propose to take a step that will be of supreme importance to the person
I value above all others in this world. Her entire future may almost
be said to depend upon it, her exterior happiness, the possibility of
her living in accordance with her nature and her rights. Now to me
chance has always been a faithful and far-seeing friend; and as I
glance over my past, and review the five or six decisive moments which,
as with all men, were the golden pivots on which fortune turned, I am
induced to believe in my star, and am morally certain that if I alone
were concerned in the step I am taking to-day, it would be bound to
succeed, because I am 'lucky.' But the person on whose behalf I am
acting has never been fortunate. Her intellect is remarkably subtle
and profound, her will is a thousand times stronger and better balanced
than my own; but, with all this, one can only believe that she
possesses a foolish or malignant unconsciousness, which has
persistently, ruthlessly, exposed her to act after act of injustice,
dishonesty, and treachery, has robbed her again and again of her due,
and compelled her to travel the path of disastrous coincidence. Be
sure that it would have forced her to embark on the ship that you speak
of. I ask myself, therefore, what attitude will my vigilant,
thoughtful unconsciousness adopt towards this indolent and sinning
brother, in whose name it will have to act, whose place, as it were, it
will take?

"How, and where, is the momentous decision being at this moment arrived
at, in search of which I shall so soon set forth? What power is it
that now, at this very moment, while I am speaking, is balancing the
pros and cons, and decreeing the happiness or sorrow of the woman I
represent? From which sphere, or perhaps immemorial virtue, from what
hidden spirit or invisible star, will the weight fall that shall
incline the scale to light or to darkness? To judge by outward
appearance, decision must rest with the will, the reason, the interest
of the parties engaged; in reality it often is otherwise. When one
finds oneself thus face to face with the problem which directly affects
a person we love, this problem no longer appears quite so simple; our
eyes open wider, and we throw a startled, anxious, in a sense almost a
virgin glance, upon all this unknown that leads us an