explanation. Believe me, yours affectionately,

'H. E. M.'

'My dear Archbishop Manning,' Mr. Gladstone answered, 'it did, I
confess, seem to me an astonishing error to state in public that
a friendship had not been overcast for forty-five years until
now, which your letter declares has been suspended as to all
action for twelve...

'I wonder, too, at your forgetting that during the forty-five
years I had been charged by you with doing the work of the
Antichrist
in regard to the Temporal Power of the Pope.

'Our differences, my dear Archbishop, are indeed profound. We
refer them, I suppose, in humble silence to a Higher Power...
You assured me once of your prayers at all and at the most solemn
time. I received that assurance with gratitude, and still cherish
it. As and when they move upwards, there is a meeting-point for
those whom a chasm separates below. I remain always,
affectionately yours,

'W. E. GLADSTONE.'

Speaking of this correspondence in after years, Cardinal Manning
said: 'From the way in which Mr. Gladstone alluded to the
overcasting of our friendship, people might have thought that I
had picked his pocket.'