England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction; Love stories; Man-woman relationships -- Fiction
"DEAR SIR--Forgive me for leaving you again as I left you in Perthshire.
After what took place last night, I have no other choice (knowing my own
weakness, and the influence that you seem to have over me) than to
thank you gratefully for your kindness, and to bid you farewell. My sad
position must be my excuse for separating myself from you in this rude
manner, and for venturing to send you back your letter of introduction.
If I use the letter, I only offer you a means of communicating with me.
For your sake, as well as for mine, this mu st not be. I must never give
you a second opportunity of saying that you love me; I must go away,
leaving no trace behind by which you can possibly discover me.
"But I cannot forget that I owe my poor life to your compassion and your
courage. You, who saved me, have a right to know what the provocation
was that drove me to drowning myself, and what my situation is, now that
I am (thanks to you) still a living woman. You shall hear my sad story,
sir; and I will try to tell it as briefly as possible.
"I was married, not very long since, to a Dutch gentleman, whose name
is Van Brandt. Please excuse my entering into family particulars. I have
endeavored to write and tell you about my dear lost father and my old
home. But the tears come into my eyes when I think of my happy past
life. I really cannot see the lines as I try to write them.
"Let me, then, only say that Mr. Van Brandt was well recommended to
my good father before I married. I have only now discovered that he
obtained these recommendations from his friends under a false pretense,
which it is needless to trouble you by mentioning in detail. Ignorant of
what he had done, I lived with him happily. I cannot truly declare that
he was the object of my first love, but he was the one person in the
world whom I had to look up to after my father's death. I esteemed him
and respected him, and, if I may say so without vanity, I did indeed
make him a good wife.
"So the time went on, sir, prosperously enough, until the evening came
when you and I met on the bridge.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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