and from the emotion produced by the circumstances of the fire.  Not only did he not lose his eyes in the fire, but he describes the ruin of his house as no blind man could.  He was standing there, a spectator.  Afterwards he had a fever, and the eyes, the visual nerve, perished, showing no external stain—­perished as Milton’s did.  I believe that a great shock on the nerves might produce such an effect in certain constitutions, and the reader on referring as far back as Marian’s letter (when she avoided the marriage) may observe that his eyes had never been strong, that her desire had been to read his notes at night, and save them.  For it was necessary, I thought, to the bringing-out of my thought, that Romney should be mulcted in his natural sight.  The ‘Examiner’ saw that.  Tell me if, on looking into the book again, you modify your feeling at all.

Dearest Mona Nina, you are well now, are you not?  Your last dear letter seems brighter altogether, and seems to promise, too, that quiet in Italy will restore the tone of your spirits and health.  Do you know, I almost advise you (though it is like speaking against my heart) to go from Marseilles to Rome straight, and to give us the spring.  The spring is beautiful in Florence; and then I should be free to go and see the pictures with you, and enjoy you in the in-door and out-of-door way, both....

You will have heard (we heard it only three days ago) how our kindest friend, who never forgot us, remembered us in his will.  The legacy is eleven thousand pounds; six thousand five hundred of which are left to Robert, marking delicately a sense of trust for which I am especially grateful Of course, this addition to our income will free us from the pressure which has been upon us hitherto.  But oh, how much sadness goes to making every gain in this world!  It has been a sad, sad Christmas to me.  A great gap is left among friends, and the void catches the eyes of the soul, whichever way it turns.  He has been to me in much what my father might have been, and now the place is empty twice over.

You are yet unconvinced.  You will be convinced one day, I think.  Here are wide-awake men (some of them most anti-spiritual to this hour, as to theory) who agree in giving testimony to facts of one order.  You shall hear their testimony when you come.  As to the ‘supernatural,’ if you mean by that the miraculous, the suspension of natural law, I certainly believe in it no more than you do.  What happens, happens according to a natural law, the development of which only becomes fuller and more observable.  The movement, such as it is, is accelerated, and the whole structure of society in America is becoming affected more or less for good or evil, and very often for evil, through the extreme tenacity or slowness of those who ought to be leaders in every revolution of thought, but who, on this subject, are pleased to leave their places to the unqualified and the fanatical.  Wise men will be sorry presently.  When Faraday was asked to go and see Hume, to see a heavy table lifted without the touch of a finger, he answered that ‘he had not time.’  Time has its ‘revenges.’