'I write now in all haste, en route for Paris. As to America, all is not lost yet.[36] Farewell! I love you, my dear friend, as never before, with an intense feeling I cannot easily express. God bless you!
'H. B. S.'
The next letter is as follows:—
'Paris, Dec. 17, 1856.
'Dear Lady Byron,—The Kansas Committee have written me a letter desiring me to express to Miss —— their gratitude for the five pounds she sent them. I am not personally acquainted with her, and must return these acknowledgments through you.
'I wrote you a day or two since, enclosing the reply of the Kansas Committee to you.
'On that subject on which you spoke to me the last time we were together, I have thought often and deeply.
'I have changed my mind somewhat. Considering the peculiar circumstances of the case, I could wish that the sacred veil of silence, so bravely thrown over the past, should never be withdrawn during the time that you remain with us.
'I would say, then, Leave all with some discreet friends, who, after both have passed from earth, shall say what was due to justice.
'I am led to think this by seeing how low, how unjust, how unworthy, the judgments of this world are; and I would not that what I so much respect, love, and revere should be placed within reach of its harpy claw, which pollutes what it touches.