The sun., 1899-03-12

whore these pits are dug. the water will standh
! the full price OF your regard. May God bless
| you. my dearest friend"
Nv.
Nearly fortnight passed before Browning
answered this letter. Meanwhile he had seen
Miss Barrett, but, in obedience to her wish.
had refralned from saying what was in his
heart We quote n passage which. though
somewhat long. is Indispensable for the under
standing OF this correspondence: Now. dear
est, shall try and write the little shall be
able. in reply to your letter OF las. week-and.
nrst OF all, have to entreat you. now more
than ever. to help me and understand from the
few words tho feelings behind them-tI should
speak rather moro easily. think--but dare
not run the risk: and know. after all. you
will be Just and kind where you CAM. /
have read your letter again and again. l
will tell you-no. not vou, but any imaginary
other person. who should hear what am 60
ing to avow; l would tell that person most
sincerely there is not particle OF faulty. shall
call II. in that avowal; cannot be. seeing that.
from the beginning. and at this moment. l
never dreamed OF winning your lore i can
hardly write this word. so inconGruous and i'm
possible does II seem: such a change OF our
places does II inpy-nor. next to that, though
long after tooutd l. II l could. supplant one OF
any OF the affections that 1 know to have taken
root in you-that great and solemn one. for In
stance. feel that. II could get m yself remade.
as II turned to gold. I would not
even then desire to become moro than the
mere setting to that diamond you must always
wear. Tho regard and esteem you now give
me. in this letter. and which 1 press to my
heart and bow my head upon. is all can take.
and all too embarrassing. using all my grati-
tude. And yet with that contented pride in
being infinitely your debtor as 1t is. bound to
you forever as 1t is: when 1 read your letter
with all the determination to be Just to us
both dare not so far Withstand the light l
am master OF. as to refuse seeing that what
ever is recorded as an objection to your
disposing OF that life OF mine 1 would
give you. has reference to some sup
posed good in that life which your accept
ing It. would destroy tof which fancy
shall speak presently)-1 say. wonder as
/ may at this. cannot but find II there. surely
there" Later. in the same letter. we read: Is
1t on my account that you bid me leave this
subjectr think. IL 1t was 80. 1would for once
cau my advantages round me. am not what
your generous. self-forgetting appreciation
would sometimes make me out. but IL Ia not
since yesterday. nor ten. nor twenty years be-
fore that began to look into my own life. and
study It's end and requirements. what would
turn 10 ltS ROOu OF ltS lOSS-aHu hHOD,
II one may know anything. that to make
that life yours. and increase 1t by union
with yours. would render me supremev
happy. as I said. and say. and feel My
whole suit to you is, In that sense. seGish-not
that am ignorant that your nature would
most surely attain happiness In being conscious
that 1t made another happy-but that best. best
end of all would. like the rest. come from your
self. be reflection Of your own gifts.
Take the sense OF all this. beseech you. dear
est-all you shall say will be best-I am yours.
Yes. yours ever. God bless you for all you
have been and are. and will certainly be to me.
come what He shall please"
In her answer. postmarked three days later.
Miss Barrett writes: Shall shrink from
telling you that neither now nor formerly has
any man been to my feelings what you are.
and that. II were different in some respects
and free in others by the providence of
I God. would accept the great trust OF your
happiness. gladly. proudly and gratefully. and
give away my own life and soul to that
end. pould do it. not. do observel 1t is
truth without a consequence: only mean
ing that am not all stone-only proving that
am not likely to consent to help you in wrong
against yourself. You see in me what is not:
that know; and you overlook in me what is
unsuitable to you -" that know. and have
sometimes told you. Still. because a strong
feeling from some sources is self-vindicatng
and enpobling to the object OF 1t. will not say
that. II 1t were proved to me that you felt this
for me. Iwould persist in putting the sense OF
my own unworthiness between you and me-
not being heroic, you know. nor pretending to
be 50. But something worse than even a sense
, Of nnworthiness God has put between us! And
Judge yourself II to beat your thoughts against
the immoyable marble of it can be anything
It,ty IL, frtf 4
Of spirit to you Judge! The present is here to
be seen speaking for ITSELF and the best
future you can imagine for me. what preca-
rious thing 1t must be. thing for making
burdens out OF, only not for your carrying as
1have vowed to my own soul. AS dear Mr..
Kenyon said to me to-day in his smiling kind
ness: In ten years you may be strong, per-
haps or almost strong that being the en-
couraRement OF my best friends! What would
he say. do you think II he could know or
guess 2. what could he say but that you were a
poet!-and still worse! Nerer let him know or
guess" Besides her own conviction that a
confirmed invalid. as she believed herself to be.
ought not to marry. Miss Barrett knew OF an
other obstacle to her union with Browning.
namely. her fathers inaexible opposition to the
marriage OF any OF his children. To this she
now. for the first time. refers: Perhaps I
might bring you reasons OF the class which
you tell me would silence you forever /
might certainly tell you that my own father.
II he knew that you had written to nae So. and
that had answered you-so. even. woL,d not
forgive me at tho end OF ten years-and this.
from mono Of the causes mentioned by me here
and In no disrespect to your name and posi-
tion though he does not overvalue
poetry. even In his daughter. and is apt to
take tho worlds measures Of the means OF
life but for the singular reason that
he never does tolerate In his fam
lily tsons or daughten) the development
Of ono class Of feelings. Such an OBJ
lection / could not bring to you OF my own
will-it rang wholly In my ears-perhaps
thought even too little OF it-and brought to
you what thought much of. and cannot cease
to think much OF equally Worldly thoughts
these are not at all. nor have been: there need
be no soiling OF the heart with any such-and
will say. In reply to some words Of yours. that
you cannot despse .ho gold and gauds OF the
world more t!ian do. and should do. even II
found use for them, And IL trishedt to he yery