On the day after the visit just recorded, Paul Montague received the following letter from Mrs. Hurtle:--
MY DEAR PAUL,--
I think that perhaps we hardly made ourselves understood to each other yesterday, and I am sure that you do not understand how absolutely my whole life is now at stake. I need only refer you to our journey from San Francisco to London to make you conscious that I really love you. To a woman such love is all important. She cannot throw it from her as a man may do amidst the affairs of the world. Nor, if it has to be thrown from her, can she bear the loss as a man bears it. Her thoughts have dwelt on it with more constancy than his;--and then too her devotion has separated her from other things. My devotion to you has separated me from everything.

On the next day, Paul Montague received this letter from Mrs. Hurtle:
My dear Paul,
I think that perhaps we hardly understood each other yesterday, and I am sure that you do not understand how absolutely my whole life is now at stake. I need only refer you to our journey from San Francisco to London to make you conscious that I really love you. To a woman such love is all important. She cannot throw it from her as a man may. Nor can she bear the loss as a man bears it. Her thoughts have dwelt on it with more constancy than his; and her devotion has separated her from other things. My devotion to you has separated me from everything.
