Letters of Two Brides

There is a grace and dignity in the lines of your face,

expressive of the noble soul within, and breathing of purity

beneath the vivid coloring. The brilliance of your dark eyes, the

bold sweep of your forehead, declare a spirit of no common

elevation, sound and trustworthy in every relation, and well

braced to meet the storms of life, should such arise. The keynote

of your character is its freedom from all pettiness. You do not

need to be told all this; but I write it because I would have you

know that I appreciate the treasure I possess. Your favors to me,

however slight, will always make my happiness in the far-distant

future as now; for I am sensible how much dignity there is in our

promise to respect each other's liberty. Our own impulse shall

with us alone dictate the expression of feeling. We shall be free

even in our fetters.

I shall have the more pride in wooing you

again now that I know the reward you place on victory. You cannot

speak, breathe, act, or think, without adding to the admiration I

feel for your charm both of body and mind. There is in you a rare

combination of the ideal, the practical, and the bewitching which

satisfies alike judgment, a husband's pride, desire, and hope, and

which extends the boundaries of love beyond those of life itself.

Oh! my loved one, may the genius of love remain faithful to me,

and the future be full of those delights by means of which you

have glorified all that surrounds me! I long for the day which

shall make you a mother, that I may see you content with the

fulness of your life, may hear you, in the sweet voice I love and

with the thoughts, bless the love which has refreshed my soul and

given new vigor to my powers, the love which is my pride, and

whence I have drawn, as from a magic fountain, fresh life. Yes, I

shall be all that you would have me. I shall take a leading part

in the public life of the district, and on you shall fall the rays

of a glory which will owe its existence to the desire of pleasing

you."

So much for my pupil, dear! Do you suppose he could have written like

this before? A year hence his style will have still further improved.

Louis is now in his first transport; what I look forward to is the

uniform and continuous sensation of content which ought to be the

fruit of a happy marriage, when a man and woman, in perfect trust and

mutual knowledge, have solved the problem of giving variety to the

infinite. This is the task set before every true wife; the answer

begins to dawn on me, and I shall not rest till I have made it mine.