A second time I address you—in what manner I ought
to do it I know not. I have offended you, I
| 198 | LADY MORGAN'S MEMOIR. |
I wrote to you, Miss Owenson, last month; I conjured you, by the remembrance of our lost friend Earle, to give consolation to one who, labouring under the most poignant sorrow for the death of his only friend, felt some degree of alleviation in the idea there was on earth still one who could feel and relieve the affliction of his soul.
I offended you, perhaps, in daring to transgress the
sacred rule of friendship you only authorised me to preserve. If so, let me
perhaps be more daring in saying, I ought to be forgiven. I have prescribed to
myself limits of affection over whose boundaries it were wrong to pass. You
conceive, perhaps, it is imprudent in you to continue a correspondence with a
man who has said that he once loved you. Be it so, I
pledge to you my word of honour to mention the subject no more; I pledge you my
promise never to violate that friendship I have so repeatedly professed for
you, and to remember only the sister of my heart. If,
from any circumstance whatever that has occurred since I first knew you, of
whatever nature it may be, you are convinced it will not be the least
gratifying to you to hold any communication with a man you certainly once
honoured with some degree of regard, at least say so, leave me not in cruel
ignorance whether
| ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY. | 199 |
