HIS PLANS. 289 



and try whether I cannot bring a very dear friend to 

 forget them too. God has not suffered me in the past 

 to be either unhappy myself, or a cause of unhappiness 

 to those whom I love, and I can trust that He will deal 

 with me after the same fashion in the future. I need 

 not say, my dear madam, that I write in confidence, and 

 for your own eye alone. If I fail in my little scheme, I 

 shall bear my disappointment all the better if it be not 

 known that I built much upon it, or looked much be- 

 yond it. In such an event, the pity of people who, in 

 the main, are less happy than myself (and the great 

 bulk of mankind are certainly not happier) shall, I 

 trust, never be solicited by, 



' My dear madam/ &c. 



VOL. 1. 19 



