Byron was in love with her, or thought so--he was not quite clear which when he poured his confidences on the subject into Medwin's ear. Lady Caroline's suspicions, to that extent, were justified. The "autumnal charms"--it is he who calls them so--fascinated him for about eight months. "The autumn of a beauty like hers," he said, "is preferable to the spring in others." He added that he "had great difficulty in breaking with her," and "once was on the point of going abroad with her, and narrowly escaped this folly." How he escaped it--or why he avoided it--he does not say; but perhaps we may find a reason. Of his intentions, at any rate, there is no room for doubt. We have no need to depend on Medwin's evidence for the full proof is in Byron's own letters. It is mixed up with a good deal of extraneous matter, but it is there; and a series of very brief citations will present the romance, such as it was, in outline: To William Bankes on September 12, 1812: "The only persons I know are the Rawdons and Oxfords, with some later acquaintances of less brilliant descent. But I do not trouble them much." To Hanson on October 22, 1812: "I am going to Lord Oxford's, Eywood, Presteigne, Hereford." Letters are dated from Presteigne on October 31, November 8, and November 16. A letter of November 22 begins, "On my return here (Cheltenham) from Lord Oxford's." A January letter shows Byron once again at Lord Oxford's; and then the references to the contemplated foreign tour--letters of which there is no mistaking the significance--begin: To Hanson on February, 27, 1813: "It is my determination, on account of a malady to which I am subject, and for other weighty reasons, to go abroad again almost immediately. To this you will object; but, as my intention cannot be altered, I have only to request that you will assist me as far as in your power to make the necessary arrangements." To Hanson on March 1, 1813: "Your objections I anticipated and can only repeat that I cannot act otherwise; so pray hasten some arrangement--for with, or without, I must go." To Hanson on March 6, 1813: "I must be ready in April at whatever risk--at whatever loss." To Charles Hanson on March 24, 1813: "Pray tell your father to get the money on Rochdale, or I must sell it directly. I must be ready by the last week in _May_, and am consequently pressed for time. I go first to Cagliari in Sardinia, and then on to the Levant." To Mrs. Leigh on March 26, 1813: "I am going abroad again in June, but should wish to see you before my departure.... On Sunday, I set off for a fortnight for Eywood, near Presteigne, in Herefordshire--with the _Oxfords_. I see you put on a _demure_ look at the name, which is very becoming and matronly in you; but you won't be sorry to hear that I am quite out of a more serious scrape with another singular personage, which threatened me last year."