I could write and long to write and the wee
miserable things that I do write! I must at once begin by saying
that Fanny's happy face would, more than all I can write, convince
you how perfectly satisfied and proud she is of the position she
has put herself in; how it delights her to think of the son-in-law
she has given to your Father, and the friend she has given your
brothers. To me he is everything that my proudest wishes could have
sought out for Fanny. You know as well as me that it was not an
ordinary person that could suit her; and it really is balm to my
heart to see the way in which he treasures every word she says, and
laughs at the innocence and simplicity of her remarks, and looks at
her with such pride when he sees her keen and eager about the great
and interesting events of the day, which most girls would neither
know nor care about. I don't mean that he is absurd in his
admiration of her, but it is evident how fully he appreciates the
singular beauty of her character. In short, to sum up all I can say
of him, he is in many respects a counterpart of herself. She is
very open and at her ease with him, and I am quite as much at my
ease with him as I was with Ralph....

_From Lady Mary Abercromby to Lord John Russell_

GENOA, _June_ 19, 1841

... You will every day discover more the great worth of what you
have won. You cannot have known her long without admiring the
extreme truth and purity of her mind; it is sensitive to a degree
which those with more of worldly experience can scarcely
understand, yet I feel sure you will watch over it, for it has a
charm to those who can appreciate it which must make them dread to
see it disturbed. It is a great privation to me to be so little
acquainted with you, but believe me I cannot think of you as a
stranger now that you belong to my dearest Sister, and that I look
to you for her happiness. If you could think of me as a sister and
treat me as such it would be a delight to me.

ADMIRALTY, _June_ 18, 1841

Very happy day--every day now happier than the one before. Oh will
it--can it last? O God, enable me to thank Thee as I ought--to live
a life of gratitude to Thee.

CHAPTER III

1841

"He served his country well in choosing thee." [20]

[20] From a sonnet to Lady John Russell by Lord Wriothesley Russel, writte