On the 18th of January 1864 she writes:--“I am becoming so
philosophical now, so quiet and sensible, that it is a real pleasure.
If only it remains thus! I really do not know why I should be so
anxious, that I see the dark side of everything, and am convinced that
everything must go wrong. And all goes right--and without my troubling.”
On the 20th of January:--“You cannot think what a sense of repose has
come over me, and a power of work and concentration at the same time,
which I have not had since last year. I can control my thoughts much
better and keep them on the same track. But the book is too beautiful,
and I absorb it. It has come to my quiet room and my peaceful heart at
the right time. Here it can influence me strongly, and no one hinders
it.”