[17 April 1845]. Browning, Elizabeth Barrett to Browning, Robert.

              Thursday morning. 

If you did but know dear Mr Browning how often I have written .. not this letter I am about to write, but another better letter to you, .. in the midst of my silence, .. you wd not think for a moment that the east wind, with all the harm it does to me, is able to do the great harm of putting out the light of the thought of you to my mind,-for this, indeed, it has no power to do. I had the pen in my hand once to write,-& why it fell out, I cannot tell you. And you see, .. all your writing will not change the wind! .. You wished all manner of good to me one day as the clock struck ten,-yes, & I assure you I was better that day-& I must not forget to tell you so though it is so long since. But therefore, I was logically bound to believe that you had never 



And is it nothing to be “justified to one’s self in one’s resources”? “That’s all,” indeed!. For the ‘soul’s country’ we will have it also-& I know how well the birds sing in it. How glad I was (by the way) to see your letter!