No names are mentioned here; but certain inferences not only can, but inevitably must, be drawn. At some time towards the end of the summer of 1813, there was a crisis of Byron's life. It did not come to a head until after Lady Oxford's departure, and Lady Oxford had nothing whatever to do with it. The latter point not only follows from the sudden disappearance of Lady Oxford from Byron's sphere of interest, but is specifically made in a letter (dated November 8, 1813) from Byron to his sister: "MY DEAREST AUGUSTA, "I have only time to say that my long silence has been occasioned by a thousand things (with which _you_ are not concerned). It is not Lady Caroline, nor Lady Oxford; _but perhaps you may guess_, and if you do, do not tell. You do not know what mischief your being with me might have prevented. You shall hear from me to-morrow: in the meantime don't be alarmed. I am in _no immediate_ peril." Those are the most significant of the letters, though there are others. Even if they stood alone, one would feel sure that there was a story behind them; but they do not stand alone. We have the poems to set beside them, and we have also the journal which Byron kept from November 14, 1813 till April 19, 1814. Letters, poems, and journal, read in conjunction, furnish a clue which it is impossible to mistrust. The distinction of having first so read them with sufficient care to find the clue belongs to Mr. Richard Edgcumbe. Possibly Mr. Edgcumbe has proved just a little too much--that question will have to be faced when we come to it; but our immediate task must be to track the story along the lines which he has indicated, and see how all the mysteries connected with Byron can be solved, and all the emotional inconsistencies of his life unified, by the recollection that, of all the many passions of his life, there was only one which really mattered to him. Many women were welcome to love him if they liked--he was a man very ready to let himself be loved; but only one woman had the power to make him suffer--and that woman was Mary Chaworth. The motto "Cherchez la femme" may, in short, in his case, be particularised. Whenever his conduct and his utterances seem, on the face of it, inexplicable, we have to look for Mary Chaworth and see her re-asserting a power which has been allowed to lapse; and we will turn to look for her now. CHAPTER XIV AN EMOTIONAL CRISIS--THOUGHTS OF MARRIAGE, OF FOREIGN TRAVEL, AND OF MARY CHAWORTH