'My Darling,--this will be very short. It is only to tell you that if I
fall--if we never meet again, after to-morrow, you are to think first of
all--and always--that you have made a man so happy that if no more joy
can come to him on earth, he could die now--as far as he himself is
concerned--blessing God for his life. I never imagined that love could
be so perfect. You have taught me. God reward you--God watch over you.
If I die, you will be very sad--that will be the bitterness to me, if I
have time to know it. But this is my last prayer to you--to be comforted
by this remembrance--of what you have done for me--what you have been to
me. And in time, my precious one, comfort will come. There may be a
child--if so, you will love it for us both. But if not, you must still
take comfort. You must be willing, for my sake, to be comforted. And
remember:--don't be angry with me, darling--if in years to come, another
true love, and another home should be offered you, don't refuse
them--Nelly! You were born to be loved. And if my spirit lives, and
understands; what could it feel but joy that your sorrow was healed--my
best beloved!

'This will be given to you only if I die. With the deepest gratitude and
the tenderest love that a man can feel, I bid you good-bye--my precious
wife--good-bye!'

He put it up with a steady hand, and addressed it first to Nelly,
enclosing it in a larger envelope addressed to his oldest friend, a
school-fellow, who had been his best man at their marriage. Then he
stole downstairs, unlocked the front door, and crossing the road in the
moonlight, he put the letter into the wall post-box on the further side.
And before re-entering the house, he stood a minute or two in the road,
letting the fresh wind from the fells beat upon his face, and trying