"Go, dearest, go out to 'Frisco, and let the thought of me lie in your subconsciousness for a year, a little chrysalis of future happiness. Do not think of me, do not let your mind dwell on me. Fill up your life with joy and work. I have a conviction that we cannot ever really separate in this life. Therefore I do not fear (as you seemed to do) that anything will be strong enough to keep us apart if we both will to be together. Only, for a time, let me sleep in your Soul in a chamber where none other can enter, and the year will soon pass for you, though slowly, as a winter night, for me. Your
"VIOLA."
* * * * *
A great numbness seized me as I came to the end.
A year without her. It seemed like Eternity itself.
I sat for many hours motionless with her letter in my hand.
Then I went out and to a ticket office in Piccadilly, and got a through ticket to 'Frisco.
CHAPTER IX
IN 'FRISCO
During the voyage to New York and the subsequent journey across
America to San Francisco I was very wretched.