“No, I have not told Will. I could not see that it would do any good. I committed one indiscretion and I think I should commit another if I told him. He might not forgive me, or, if he did, he would never feel quite the same toward me, perhaps, and both his happiness and mine would be ruined. I say ruined, for we are certainly very congenial and I believe God intended us for each other, and perhaps it was part of His divine providence that I passed through what I did.” TALE TEN. SOLD AT A FIXED PRICE. TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE. “By thine own soul’s law learn to live, And if men thwart thee, take no heed, And if men hate thee, have no care; Sing thou thy song and do thy deed. Hope thou thy hope and pray thy prayer, And claim no crown they will not give, Nor bays they grudge thee for thy hair. “Keep thou thy soul-sworn, steadfast oath, And to thy heart be true thy heart; What thy soul teaches learn to know, And play out thine appointed part, And thou shalt reap as thou shalt sow, Nor helped nor hindered in thy growth, To thy full stature thou shalt grow. “Fix on the future’s goal thy face, And let thy feet be lured to stray Nowhither, but be swift to run, And nowhere tarry by the way, Until at last the end is won And thou mayst look back from thy place And see thy long day’s journey done.” “Dearest Arthur: Sounds strange, does it not, or, perhaps, no sound escapes your lips as your eyes scan this letter. I write you; you are surprised, I know, but you should not be, for stranger things than this have happened. My reasons for writing, I say reasons because they are numerous, will be divulged either by statements from my pen or by a critical reading between the lines. “You asked me to write, though why you should have done so is more than I am able to determine. I am sure it was not all love which prompted you to make the request. I feel that you did at one time love me. No, a man of your force of character cannot love truly and allow that love to die while the object of his devotion lives. If you ever loved, you still love. The only question that remains unanswered is, ‘Am I the only one to whom your whole heart has gone out?’ Be that as it may, I have concluded that, wise or unwise, right or wrong, the same untiring love which has inspired me to worship you, day by day and the long night through, since first we met, must live on until the words, ‘Dust to dust’ have echoed through the tall pines and rolling mounds of our Southern city of the dead, while the clods fall heavily on the rough box that contains my casket. I feel I could court even death while reveling in the sunshine of your beauteous love, and smilingly challenge the chords of life to snap and precipitate me into that unknown beyond, with the memory of your dear kisses on my cold, blue lips.