I know why you became a soldier; I know what duties, what sacrifices, the future may demand from you.

Jean, do not suppose that I shall turn you from any of these duties, from any of these sacrifices.

If I could be disappointed with you for anything, it would be, perhaps, for this thought--oh, you must have had it!--that I should wish you free, and quite my own, that I should ask you to abandon your career.

Never! never! Understand well, I shall never ask such a thing of you.
"A young girl whom I know did that when she married, and she did wrong.
I love you, and I wish you to be just what you are.

It is because you live differently from, and better than, those who have before desired me for a wife, that I desire you for a husband.