Then, since for the next few years you will never resign yourself to single life, and are not likely to find a husband, you must so arrange your love affairs that they escape the attention of the world.  Why should you mix them up with your home life and your children?  What you need are prudence and calculation; but you have neither.

You will never fix your life on a firm basis until you have relegated men to the true place they occupy in your existence.  If you could only make yourself see clearly the fallacy of thinking that every man you meet is going to love you for eternity.  A woman like yourself can attract lovers by the dozen; but yours is not the temperament to inspire a serious relationship which might become a lasting friendship.  If you constantly see yourself left in the lurch and abandoned by your admirers before you have tired of them yourself, it is because you always delude yourself on this point.

I know another woman situated very much as you are.  She too has a large family, and a weakness for the opposite sex.  Everybody knows that she has her passing love affairs, but no one quarrels with her on that score.

She is really entitled to some respect, for she lives in her own house the life of an irreproachable matron.  She shows the tenderest regard for the needs of her children, and never a man crosses her threshold but the doctor.

You see, dear Magna, that I have devoted half my Christmas night to you, which I certainly should not have done if I did not feel a special sympathy for you.  If I wind up my letter with a proposal that may wound your feelings at first sight, you must try to understand that it is kindly meant.

Living here alone, a few months’ experience has shown me that my income exceeds my requirements, and I can offer to supply you with a sum which you can pay me back in a year or two, without interest.  This would enable you to learn some kind of business which would secure you a living and free you from family interference.  Consider it well.

I live so entirely to myself on this island that I have plenty of time to ponder over my own lot and that of other people.  Write to me when you feel the wish or need to do so.  I will reply to the best of my ability.  If I am very taciturn about my own affairs, it springs from an idiosyncrasy that I cannot overcome.  To make sure of my meaning I have read my letter through once more, and find that it does not express all I wanted to say.  Never mind, it is true in the main.  Only try to understand that I do not wish to sit in judgment upon you, only to throw some light on the situation.  With all kind thoughts.

Yours,
ELSIE LINDTNER.

* * * * *

It snows, and snows without ceasing.  The trees are already wrapped in snow, like precious objects packed in wadding.  The paths will soon be heaped up to their level.  The snowflakes are as large as daisies.  When I go out they flutter round me like a swarm of butterflies.  Those that fall into the water disappear like shooting stars, leaving no trace behind.