Keep this letter by you; do not be content to read it once and throw it aside, for I have spoken to you out of my deepest feeling, and in time you will do me more justice than you can now.' And further on: 'As to that which has parted us, there must be no ambiguity, no pretence of superhuman generosity.

I should lie if I said that I do not wish to find Thyrza for my own sake.

If I find her, I shall ask her to be my wife.

I wanted to say this when we spoke together, but could not; neither was I calm enough to express this rightly, nor you rightly to hear it.' Gilbert allowed a day or two to go by, then made answer.

He wrote briefly, but enough to show Egremont that the man's natural nobility could triumph over his natural resentment.