Tuesday, 2nd July, 1873.

   My dear Mrs hurtle,—­

I promised that I would go to you again in Islington, and so I will, if you still require it.  But I think that such a meeting can be of no service to either of us.  What is to be gained?  I do not for a moment mean to justify my own conduct.  It is not to be justified.  When I met you on our journey hither from San Francisco, I was charmed with your genius, your beauty, and your character.  They are now what I found them to be then.  But circumstances have made our lives and temperaments so far different, that I am certain that, were we married, we should not make each other happy.  Of course the fault was mine; but it...