I began one, 'How can I ever hope, my dear Agnes, to efface from your remembrance the disgusting impression'-- there I didn't like it, and then I tore it up.

I began another, 'Shakespeare has observed, my dear Agnes, how strange it is that a man should put an enemy into his mouth'-- that reminded me of Markham, and it got no farther.

I even tried poetry.

I began one note, in a six-syllable line, 'Oh, do not remember'-- but that associated itself with the fifth of November, and became an absurdity.

After many attempts, I wrote, 'My dear Agnes.