"How much I have gone through in the last year--the accumulated agony of remorse, bereavement, and ruin--no human soul can tell. No wonder my bark was wrecked after such mad and careless navigation; but, thank God, the blow of the tempest that staggered and shattered it, and drove it on the reefs, has not sunk it utterly, and now, like a waif or stray, it is being carried to be refitted across a thousand leagues of sea. "I am not the Bruce you knew, but a wiser, sadder, and better man. I have not yet lost all hope. The old book of my life was so smutched and begrimed--torn, dogs-eared, and scrawled over--that it was scarcely worth while to turn over a new leaf. I have rather began a new volume altogether, and trust, by God's blessing, that when `Finis' comes to be written in it, some few of the pages will bear re-perusal. "`De Vayne!' how that name haunts me; how full it is of horror--De Vayne and Hazlet; and yet I hear that both have contributed to my help. It gives me new life to know that human hearts can be so full of forgiveness and of love. "Starting almost for another world--without fortune, without friends, with nothing but head and heart, the wreck of what I was--I sometimes feel so sad that I could wish myself out of the world altogether. Forgive me, then, for once more bringing before you a name which you can only connect with the most unpleasant and sombre thoughts, and pray for me that my efforts, (this time they are genuine and sincere), to improve my life, my talents, and my fortune, may be crowned with success. "We sail in an hour or sooner, for I hear them weighing anchor now. Good-bye. Accept my warmest thanks for all your kindnesses, and my wishes, (ah! that they were worthier!) for your happiness in life, and believe me, my dear Julian, your sincere and grateful friend-- "Vyvyan Bruce. "_P S_--I am positively alone; not one soul is here even to bid me good-bye. Eheu! jam serus vitam ingemo relictam!"