62 
PROFESSOR OWEN 
CH. II. 
years might accomplish it, and then, with what 
happiness should I clasp my dear Caroline after 
having succeeded in my first course! Now, 
said I to myself, what is to hinder my dear Cary 
and me from quietly enjoying ourselves in a more 
humble way in the meanwhile, and then comes 
in the cottage and Harrot } Now, will you write 
to her or speak to her ? for first we must not be 
too far off ; I must work and study hard, and 
that I cannot do with effect, till I can “calm 
this troubled breast ” and call you indeed my 
own.’ 
In a postscript to this letter Owen says : ‘ Not- 
withstanding this subject interests us so deeply, 
the grounds of our proceedings are plain and com- 
prehensible, and I think you may safely trust your 
own judgment, as I would rather you should. I 
have from very early life been thrown among 
strangers and have had a greater control over my 
own actions than is usual, and am perhaps from 
habit too jealous of receiving even a bias from any 
comparatively indifferent person. I have the great- 
est confidence in your judgment ; it was observ- 
ing the admirable control you had acquired over 
yourself in circumstances that made me feel my 
comparative weakness that has chiefly tended to 
engender a feeling almost more than love to you.’ 
On May ii, 1832, he again writes to Miss 
Clift : ‘ I fear you open my letters with a more 
trembling hand than you direct your own, but you 
