a friend," I believe "prudence dictates" that one should keep a
record of what one writes. I have not done so. I can't really
believe that you would, however worried and badgered and
misrepresented, grow hard or unkind under torture, any more than I
have; but you are stronger than I am, and perhaps my weakness helps
me in this way. I don't believe in the difference, and I have merely
scribbled all I think in the old way.'

Chamberlain wrote:

'_May 6th_, 1886.

'My Dear Dilke,

'The strain of the political situation is very great and the best
and strongest of us may well find it difficult to keep an even mind.

'I thank you for writing so fully and freely. It is evident that,
without meaning it, I must have said more than I supposed, and
perhaps in the worry of my own mind I did not allow enough for the
tension of yours.

'We never have been rivals. Such an idea has not at any time entered
my mind, and consequently, whether your position is as desperate as
you suppose or as completely retrievable as I hope and believe, it
is not from this point of view that I regard any differences, but
entirely as questions affecting our long friendship and absolute
mutual confidence. If we differ now at this supreme moment, it is
just as painful to me to lose your entire sympathy as if you could
bring to me an influence as great as Gladstone's himself.