in a mess ? It is not because my affections are weak, but because they are much too strong to be mistaken for anything else, that I can keep clear of them — when their conversation is not wanted.
“And I must not close my letter without asking you to believe that it is owing to what I know of your own kindness of heart that I take these pains to justify myself to you for what I have written ; for although for the moment it may give you more pain that I should thus further insist on the failings of your friend’s work, I trust you will ultimately have more contentment in knowing that I cared for you both, and wrote with extreme earnestness and deliberation, than in remaining under any im- pression of having merely drawn me into an ebullition of momentary ill-temper. And I trust that you will kindly accept the expression of my friendly feeling to yourself, and continue to think of me as faithfully yours,J. Ruskin.
“H. Stacy Marks, Esq.”
January 22, 1876.
“My dear Mr. Ruskin, — I am very glad the Times inserted your letter, as I asked the editor to do, at full length.
“It cannot fail to draw many visitors to the Walker
