"I perceive by this that the Duke had again commenced addressing me in the first person.
"It would appear by the Duke's next, dated July 1st, 1836, that I had changed my intention concerning receiving him, as he wrote—'Since I wrote you this morning I have had a fall by which I have bruised my knee so that Leaches have been applied. I am not otherwise hurt but it is quite obvious that I shall not be able to wait upon you to-morrow. I hope to be able to do so however at the same hour on Monday.' That such was not the will of the Lord of lords I now perfectly recollect proving to the Duke that 'The way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps,' a divine lesson which I was so anxious from time to time, as circumstances permitted, to impress on his mind."
The Duke probably had a vivid realization of this truth just at this juncture, although possibly not in the sense intended by Miss J. She seems to have been devoid of any sense of humor, and saw nothing but the spiritual application of this one of her favorite quotations.
"In the Duke's next, of the 4th of July, he writes; 'I am much recovered from the accident under which I suffered on Friday—but I am afraid that I shall not be allowed to quit my House this day. Indeed I am convinced that I could not do so without increasing the risk of being confined to my house for weeks or months. I lament this particularly as you are going out of Town early to morrow. I am very sensible of your Confidence in attending to my opinion in sending your letter to Mr. B.'
"This was a letter written by me to a Minister of the Gospel whose worldliness was justifiably condemned. It is still I believe in my possession among my papers, the Duke having received it for perusal and at my request returned with advice not to forward it.
"In the letter dated the 5th the Duke acknowledges a packet from me to which he adds 'I continue to improve and hope to go out tomorrow or next day.'
"I presume this was a very thick letter. In that of the 9th of July, the Duke writes; 'I am better and I am in hopes that on tomorrow I shall be able to put my foot to the ground.'
"The Duke's next letter is I see directed to me at Hastings, in which he writes on July 11th, 1836—'I am so much better that I am going to the House of Lords and I hope soon to be able to go about without inconvenience' to which the Duke again refers in his next thus; 'I continue to recover from the effects of the Accident and I hope to be able to go out in a day or two. I am happy to find that you are settled at Hastings to your satisfaction.'
"The next of the 13th of July refers to my letters being overweight—apparently, but judging by the letter of the 28th I must have been mistaken, as the Duke writes;
"'You did not send me a letter overweight. But I warned you of the necessity of taking care not to do so because I was apprehensive that if I should be absent my servants would decline to receive the letter.'