o labour so strictly; and for this he was grateful
to her. She had given him this great and necessary incitement; and
he therefore thanked God that he had on his shoulders the burden,
as well as in his heart the blessing, of such an engagement. But
the strain would be too great for him if the burden were to remain
present to him daily, while the blessing was to be postponed for so
long a time. He had already felt his spirits numbed and his energy
weakened. It seemed to him in all his daily work that his great hope
had been robbed from him. His dreams told him that he was to be
happy, but his waking moments brought him back to disappointment.
He knew that he could not endure it, that he could not remain there
at his post, diligent as he fain would be, if his reward were to be
postponed for so long. As being under a holy engagement to you,"
he wrote, perhaps almost too solemnly, "I have given up that sort
of life to which my natural disposition might have led me. Do not
suppose that I say this with regret. I rejoice to have done so,
rejoice to be so doing; but it is for you that I do it. Should I not
look to you for my reward? Granting that there may be risk, shall not
I share it? Supposing that there may be suffering, shall not I endure
it? And if a man with his best efforts may protect a woman from
suffering, I will protect you." So he had written, and had ended by
imploring her to let them be married that autumn.

By return of post he got three lines from her, calling him her
dearest, dearest George, and requesting that he would allow her a
week to answer his letter at length. It could not be answered without
deep thought. This gratified him much, and he wrote another note to
her, begging her on no account to hurry herself; that he would wait
for her reply with the utmost patience; but again imploring her to be
merciful. It was, however, apparent in the tone of his note, apparent
at least to Caroline, that he judged the eloquence of his letter to
be unanswerable, and that he was already counting on her surrender.
This lessened the effect of it on Caroline's heart;--for when first
received it had had a strong effect.

On that first morning, when she read it in her bedroom before she
went down to breakfast, it certainly had a strong effect on her. She
made up her mind that she would say nothing about it to her aunt,
at any rate on that day. Her aunt would have advised her to yield
at once, and she would have preferred