[17 March 1846]. Browning, Elizabeth Barrett to Browning, Robert.

              Tuesday evening 

Ah well-we shall see- Only remember that it is not my fault if I throw the double sixes, & if you, on <some sunshiny day, (a day too late to help yourself) stand face to face with a milkwhite unicorn>- Ah-do not be angry!- It is ungrateful of me to write so-I put a line through it to prove I have a conscience after all. I know that you love me .. & I know it so well that I was reproaching myself severely not long ago, for seeming to love your love more than you- Let me tell you how I proved that, or seemed. For ever so long, you remember, I have been talking finely about giving you up for your good & so on. Which was sincere as far as the words went-but oh, the hypocrisy of our souls!-of mine, for instance! ‘I would give you up for your good’-but when I pressed upon myself the question whether (if I had the power)