Mart Anne Dodd.
P. S. must not think of writing; but you may tell him that I'm
unchanged, unchangeable. The cold maxims of worldly prudence, the sordid
calculations of worldly interests affect me not. As Metastasio says,--
"O, se ragione intende Subito amor, non è."
I know it,--I feel it. There is what Balzac calls _une perversité
divine_ in true affection, that teaches one to brave father and
mother and brother, and this glorious sentiment is the cradle of true
martyrdom. May my heart cherish this noble grief, and never forget that
if there is no struggle, there is no victory!
Do you remember Captain Morris, of the 25th, the little dark officer
that came down to Bruff, after the burning of the Sheas? I saw him
yesterday; but, Kitty, how differently he looked here in his _passé_
blue frock, from his air in "our village!" He wanted to bow, but I
cut him dead. "No," thought I, "times are changed, and we with them!"
Caroline, who was walking behind me with James, however, not only
saluted, but spoke to him. He said, "I see your sister forgets me; but
I know how altered ill-health has made me. I am going to leave the
service." He asked where we were stopping,--a most unnecessary piece
of attention; for after the altercation he had with pa on the Bench at
Bruff, I think common delicacy might keep him from seeking us out.
Try and persuade your papa to take you abroad, Kitty, if only for a
summer ramble; believe me, there is no other refining process like it.
If you only saw James already--you remember what a sloven he was--you'd
not know him; his hair so nicely divided and perfumed; his gloves so
accurately fitting; his boots perfection in shape and polish; and all
the dearest little trinkets in the world--pistols and steam-carriages,
death's-heads, ships and serpents--hanging from his watch-chain; and as
for the top of his cane, Kitty, it is paved with turquoise, and has
a great opal in the middle. Where, how, and when he got all this
"elegance," I can't even guess, and I see it must be a secret, for
neither pa nor ma have ever yet seen him _en gala_. I wish your brother
Robert was with him. It would be such an advantage to him. I am certain
Trinity College is all that you say of it; but confess, Kitty, Dublin is
terribly behind the world in all that regards civilization and "ton."