I hope that you will not give yourself the trouble of writing to me; if it should be at all irksome or inconvenient to you.
Believe me Ever Yours most faithfully
Wellington.
The unmistakable irony of the above seems to have been quite thrown away upon Miss J., for she placidly remarks:—
"I am well aware that the poor Duke was justified in finding fault with my writing, through finding my pen could not keep pace with my feelings, more especially as I generally sent off whatever I wrote just as it was thus written.
"Again I see by the Duke's letter of Sept. 26th that he has returned to the third person in addressing me, which may have been accidental as his next dated Oct. 1st, 1836, is again in the first and on the 11th he writes—'I have received your Note and two Covers containing Tracts, for all of which I return my thanks.'
"In the Duke's letter of Oct. 14th he writes—'I am, I assure you, very sensible of the kindness of your motive in writing to me.'
"The Duke's next letter is as follows 'I did not arrive in London in time to be able to wait upon you this evening but I will wait upon you to-morrow afternoon as soon after five as it may be in my power.'
"On October 19th the Duke called, after an absence of about two years. So seldom did The Lord of Lords allow personal interviews to take place which doubtlessly was wisely ordered for His Glory Who knows the end from the beginning and is consequently too jealous of His Holy Name to suffer it to be tarnished. Of this holy jealousy I was rendered especially sensible on the visit above alluded to. I accosted the Duke accordingly on his entering the room. He exclaimed 'You shall do this and you shall do that!' without any reference to God's holy Will, expatiating accordingly until dear Mrs. L. who was only separated from us by folding doors said afterwards she pitied the Duke and was glad when I had said whatever I considered my duty. Nor was it until then that I even asked him concerning his knee, although that was the first visit since the Accident. When I did so, he appeared delighted, brushing up his chair nearer to me, which of course met with the withdrawal on my part due to Christianity. I bless God for the grace and strength afforded me on that occasion, causing the Duke to sink into the utmost insignificance in comparison with His favor which is better than life.
"The next letter from the Duke is dated Nov. 3rd, 1836, wherein he writes, 'I am much flattered by your desire to have my opinion whether you should send the letter you had written to a gentleman, but had refrained from putting it into the Post.'