(_To Madame Mohl._) HARLEY STREET, _August_ 27 [1853].... I have not taken this step, Clarkey dear, without years of anxious consideration. It is the result of the experience of years and of the fullest and deepest thought; it has not been done without advice, and it is a step, which, being the growth of so long, is not likely to be repented of or reconsidered. I mean the step of leaving them. I do not wish to talk about it--and this is the last time I shall ever do so, but as you ask me a plain question, Clarkey dear, I will give you a plain answer. I _have_ talked matters over ("made a clean breast," as you express it) with Parthe, _not once but thousands of times_. Years and years have been spent in doing so. It has been, therefore, with the deepest consideration and with the fullest advice that I have taken the step of leaving home, and it is a _fait accompli_. With regard to "_my_ sacrificing my peace and comfort," it is true that I am _here_ entirely for their sakes. But to serve my country in this _way_ has been also the object of my life, though I should not have done it in this time or manner. But it is not a sacrifice any more than that I have done a thing in a bad way, which I should fain have done in a good one. For _this_ is sure to fail. So farewell, Clarkey dear, don't let us talk any more about this. It is, as I said before, a _fait accompli_. Having at so great difficulty won her freedom, Florence clearly felt that any policy of half-and-half now might necessitate in the future a renewal of the struggle. Her sister was still in very delicate health, and Florence was advised, by the family doctor himself, that her visits involved much disturbing excitement. Besides, the work at Harley Street, if it was to be done efficiently, required constant residence and unremitting attention. And it was written: "He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me." V