_17 Heriot Row, Edinburgh [June 1882]._
MY DEAR SIR,--I see nothing "cheekie" in anything you have done. Your
letters have naturally given me much pleasure, for it seems to me you
are a pretty good young fellow, as young fellows go; and if I add that
you remind me of myself, you need not accuse me of retrospective vanity.
You now know an address which will always find me; you might let me have
your address in London; I do not promise anything--for I am always
overworked in London--but I shall, if I can arrange it, try to see you.
I am afraid I am not so rigid on chastity: you are probably right in
your view; but this seems to me a dilemma with two horns, the real curse
of a man's life in our state of society--and a woman's too, although,
for many reasons, it appears somewhat differently with the enslaved sex.
By your "fate" I believe I meant your marriage, or that love at least
which may befall any one of us at the shortest notice and overthrow the
most settled habits and opinions. I call that your fate, because then,
if not before, you can no longer hang back, but must stride out into
life and act.--Believe me, yours sincerely,