paper sell. You know, True, I am not
very strait-laced about such matters, either, and, after
all, of course, if Mr. Frisby used it, and with the sanction
of the Rev. Montague Banks, it must be all right. But you
know also, True, that it isn't for money or luxury that I
care,--I have had plenty of such things,--and it is just for
your own dear, trusting self, and your aims and triumphs,
that I love you.

"Your bohemian life there with Perny and Van has always
seemed so delightful to me. You are all such good friends,
and it must be beautiful to do your work together, and then
go out and see the different phases of living and dying, and
the struggle of existence, without the cares and worries of
business. I have pictured you so often sitting about the
fire at evening, smoking your pipes and dreaming the dreams
that are only of your world, and happy in that comradeship
which only men ever understand and feel for each other. Then
I have tried not to be jealous of the others, and to make
myself believe that by and by, when I came, it would not be
so hard for you to give them up, and that sometimes I would
let you go back to them, and then for the evening you could
forget that I had ever come into your life and changed it
all.

"You must let me say all this, True, because I feel it, and
know, in spite of your noble letters to me, that it _will_
make a difference, and that your life will never be quite
the same afterward. And that is why I feel about the paper
as I do, too, I suppose, for I feel that it will in some way
rob you of the quiet happiness and the serene sweetness of
art that you now enjoy, and for which I have been more than
once tempted to give you up and go out of your life for your
own sake. Only, True, I am weak and human, and can't let you
go as long as you, too, are weak and human enough to love me
and to make us both believe that I will be a help and an
inspiration to you by and by.

"As I read over this letter now, it seems to me neither very
cheerful nor encouraging, and not at all the letter I
started out to write. But if I should write another I fear I
should not improve on it, and anyway, True, you know it is
from the heart, and that always and always my heart is
_with_ you and _for_ you in whatever