d as follows:--

"'MY DEAR OLD FRIENDS: In company with many other people, you
must have wondered what the circumstances could have been that
induced me to leave England so suddenly, to forfeit the success
I had won for myself after so much up-hill work, and, above
all, to bid farewell to a life and an art I loved so devotedly,
and from which, I think I may be excused for saying, I had such
brilliant expectations. I send you herewith, Betford, by a
bearer I can trust, an answer to that question. I want you to
read it, and, having done so, to forward it to George
Trevelyan, with the request that he will do the same. When you
have mastered the contents, you must unitedly arrange with some
publishing house to put it before the world, omitting nothing,
and in no way attempting to offer any extenuation for my
conduct. We were three good friends once, in an age as dead to
me now as the Neolithic. For the sake of that friendship,
therefore, I implore this favour at your hands. As you hope for
mercy on that Last Great Day when the sins of all men shall be
judged, do as I entreat you now. How heavily I have sinned
against my fellow-men--in ignorance, it is true--you will know
when you have read what I have written. This much is
certain--the effect of it weighs upon my soul like lead. If you
have any desire to make that load lighter, carry out the wish I
now express to you. Remember me also in your prayers, praying
not as for a man still living, but as you would for one long
since dead. That God may bless and keep you both will ever be
the wish of your unhappy friend,

"'CYRIL FORRESTER.

"'P. S.--Matthew Simpford, in the Strand, is keeping two
pictures for me. They were once considered among my best work.
I ask you each to accept one, and when you look at them try to
think as kindly as possible of the friend who is gone from you
forever.'

"So much for the letter. It is possible there may be people who will
smile sarcastically when they read that, as I finished it, tears stood
in my eyes, so that I could scarcely see the characters upon the paper.

"You, Trevelyan, I know, will understand my emotion better. And why
should I not have been affected? Forrester and I had been good friends
in the old days, and it was only fit and proper I should mourn his loss.
Handsome