Ever your loving child,
Sophy.”
“Saturday night. Feb. 5th 1859.
Dearest,
... Tom’s being a man makes all the difference, he has just taken the plain path of duty. I am very pleased with the spirit in which you write, darling, but I must be sincere, which I should not be if I told you that I had the shadow of a doubt that you ought not to be a paid teacher....
Ever, dearest,
Your affect. Father,
T. Jex-Blake.”
So closes this delightful correspondence. It was not to be supposed that she should have no regrets. In her diary she says:
“Feb. 13th.... Like a fool I have consented to give up the fees for this term only—though I am miserably poor. I am sorry. It was foolish. It only defers the struggle.”