I must not quarrel with a spirit of forbearance which has been so richly extended towards myself; but, otherwise, I should loudly protest against the share of it which that woman has known.--'Jane,' indeed!--You will observe that I have not yet indulged myself in calling her by that name, even to you.
Think, then, what I must have endured in hearing it bandied between the Eltons with all the vulgarity of needless repetition, and all the insolence of imaginary superiority.

Have patience with me, I shall soon have done .-- She closed with this offer, resolving to break with me entirely, and wrote the next day to tell me that we never were to meet again .-- _She_ _felt_ _the_ _engagement_ _to_ _be_ _a_ _source_ _of_ _repentance_ _and_ _misery_ _to_ _each_: _she_ _dissolved_ _it_ .-- This letter reached me on the very morning of my poor aunt's death.

I answered it within an hour; but from the confusion of my mind, and the multiplicity of business falling on me at once, my answer, instead of being sent with all the many other letters of that day, was locked up in my writing-desk; and I, trusting that I had written enough, though but a few lines, to satisfy her, remained without any uneasiness .-- I was rather disappointed that I did not hear from her again speedily; but I made excuses for her, and was too busy, and--may I add ?--too cheerful in my views to be captious .-- We removed to Windsor; and two days afterwards I received a parcel from her, my own letters all returned!--and a few lines at the same time by the post, stating her extreme surprize at not having had the smallest reply to her last; and adding, that as silence on such a point could not be misconstrued, and as it must be equally desirable to both to have every subordinate arrangement concluded as soon as possible, she now sent me, by a safe conveyance, all my letters, and requested, that if I could not directly command hers, so as to send them to Highbury within a week, I would forward them after that period to her at--: in short, the full direction to Mr.Smallridge's, near Bristol, stared me in the face.

I knew the name, the place, I knew all about it, and instantly saw what she had been doing.

It was perfectly accordant with that resolution of character which I knew her to possess; and the secrecy she had maintained, as to any such design in her former letter, was equally descriptive of its anxious delicacy.