He went back to Cambridge as
fast as he could go, and in dread of the conversation with Mr.
Allaby which he felt to be impending, composed the following letter
which he despatched that same afternoon by a private messenger to
Crampsford. The letter was as follows:
"DEAREST MISS CHRISTINA,- I do not know whether you have guessed the
feelings that I have long entertained for you- feelings which I have
concealed as much as I could through fear of drawing you into an
engagement which, if you enter into it, must be prolonged for a
considerable time, but, however this may be, it is out of my power
to conceal them longer; I love you, ardently, devotedly, and send
these few lines asking you to be my wife, because I dare not trust
my tongue to give adequate expression to the magnitude of my affection
for you.
"I cannot pretend to offer you a heart which has never known
either love or disappointment. I have loved already, and my heart
was years in recovering from the grief I felt at seeing her become
another's. That, however, is over, and having seen yourself I
rejoice over a disappointment which I thought at one time would have
been fatal to me. It has left me a less ardent lover than I should
perhaps otherwise have been, but it has increased tenfold my power
of appreciating your many charms and my desire that you should
become my wife.
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