my warning may come too late. Never marry a
man whom you do not know, absolutely, that you
love, and when this knowledge comes to you, if
there are no barriers in the way, do not let
anything on God's earth keep you apart.

"I have made the mistake which many girls make.
I came from school, young, inexperienced, unbalanced,
and eager for admiration. Your father, a brilliant man
of more than twice my age, easily appealed to my fancy.
He was handsome, courteous, distinguished, wealthy, of
fine character and unassailable position. I did not
know, then, that a woman could love love, rather than
the man who gave it to her.

"There is not a word to be said of him that is not
wholly good. He has failed at no point, nor in the
smallest degree. On the contrary, it is I who have
disappointed him, even though I love him dearly
and always have. I have never loved him more than
to-day, when I leave you both forever.

"My feeling for him is unchanged. It is only that
at last I have come face to face with the one man
of all the world--the one God made for me, back in
the beginning. I have known it for a long, long
time, but I did not know that he also loved me
until a few days ago.

"Since then, my world has been chaos, illumined by
this unutterable light. I have been a true wife,
and when I can be true no longer, it is time to
take the one way out. I cannot live here and run
the risk of seeing him constantly, yet trust
myself not to speak; I cannot bear to know that
the little space lying between us is, in reality,
the whole world.

"He is bound, too. He has a wife and a son only a
little older than you are. If I stay, I shall be
false to your father, to you, to him, and even to
myself, because, in my relation to each of you,
I shall be living a lie.

[Sidenote: The Message]

"Tell your dear father, if he still lives, that he
has been very good to me, that I appreciate all
his kindness, gentleness, patience, and the
beautiful love he has given me. Tell him I am
sorry I have failed him, that I have