y in this, that
having been scorched, I know that I must keep my distance.
You will easily believe that a woman, such as I am, does
not refuse to ride in a carriage with your Grace's arms on
the panels without a regret. I am no philosopher. I do not
pretend to despise the rich things of the world, or the
high things. According to my way of thinking a woman ought
to wish to be Duchess of Omnium;--but she ought to wish
also to be able to carry her coronet with a proper grace.
As Madame Goesler I can live, even among my superiors, at
my ease. As your Grace's wife, I should be easy no longer;
--nor would your Grace.

You will think perhaps that what I write is heartless,
that I speak altogether of your rank, and not at all of
the affection you have shown me, or of that which I might
possibly bear towards you. I think that when the first
flush of passion is over in early youth men and women
should strive to regulate their love, as they do their
other desires, by their reason. I could love your Grace,
fondly, as your wife, if I thought it well for your Grace
or for myself that we should be man and wife. As I think
it would be ill for both of us, I will restrain that
feeling, and remember your Grace ever with the purest
feeling of true friendship.

Before I close this letter, I must utter a word of
gratitude. In the kind of life which I have led as a
widow, a life which has been very isolated as regards
true fellowship, it has been my greatest effort to obtain
the good opinion of those among whom I have attempted to
make my way. I may, perhaps, own to you now that I have
had many difficulties. A woman who is alone in the world
is ever regarded with suspicion. In this country a woman
with a foreign name, with means derived from foreign
sources, with a foreign history, is specially suspected.
I have striven to live that down, and I have succeeded.
But in my wildest dreams I never dreamed of such success
as this,--that the Duke of Omnium should think me the
worthiest of the worthy. You may be sure that I am not
ungrateful,--that I never will be ungrateful. And I trust
it will not derogate from your opinion of my worth, that
I have known what was due to your Grace's highness.

I have the honour to be,
My Lord Duke,
Your most obliged and faithful servant,

MARIE MAX GOESLER.

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