y intimate (female) friends of hers, with whom she was accustomed
to correspond. Three separate extracts from letters written by three
different correspondents were selected to be read in Court.

FIRST CORRESPONDENT: "I despair, my dearest Sara, of being able to tell
you how your last letter has distressed me. Pray forgive me if I own to
thinking that your very sensitive nature exaggerates or misinterprets,
quite unconsciously, of course, the neglect that you experience at the
hands of your husband. I cannot say anything about _his_ peculiarities
of character, because I am not well enough acquainted with him to know
what they are. But, my dear, I am much older than you, and I have had a
much longer experience than yours of what somebody calls 'the lights and
shadows of married life.' Speaking from that experience, I must tell you
what I have observed. Young married women, like you, who are devotedly
attached to their husbands, are apt to make one very serious mistake. As
a rule, they all expect too much from their husbands. Men, my poor Sara,
are not like _us._ Their love, even when it is quite sincere, is not
like our love. It does not last as it does with us. It is not the
one hope and one thought of their lives, as it is with us. We have no
alternative, even when we most truly respect and love them, but to make
allowance for this difference between the man's nature and the woman's.
I do not for one moment excuse your husband's coldness. He is wrong,
for example, in never looking at you when he speaks to you, and in
never noticing the efforts that you make to please him. He is worse than
wrong--he is really cruel, if you like--in never returning your kiss
when you kiss him. But, my dear, are you quite sure that he is always
_designedly_ cold and cruel? May not his conduct be sometimes the
result of troubles and anxieties which weigh on his mind, and which are
troubles and anxieties that you cannot share? If you try to look at his
behavior in this light, you will understand many things which puzzle
and pain you now. Be patient with him, my child. Make no complaints,
and never approach him with your caresses at times when his mind is
preoccupied or his temper ruffled. This may be hard advice to follow,
loving him as ardently as you do. But, rely on it, the secret of
happiness for us women is to be found (alas! only too often) in such
exercise of restraint and resignation as your old friend now recommends.
Think, my dear,