I so much wish to believe that A—— is in a good way that I try to think her letters to you sincere, tho’ there are some things I cannot quite reconcile to my mind—if I understand you right you have implied to her that the continuation of your friendly intercourse with her depends upon the cessation of hers with him & I think I also understand that when she declined being the transmitter of the bulletins of the Child she implied to you that she should relinquish the correspondence altogether. Now this I know she has not done—for since my last letter to you I have seen upon her table a thick unsealed letter addressed by her to him—How far it would be expedient or prudent (for the reasons you very justly alledge) for her to break off this intercourse abruptly is another question—& one on which she ought to consult you, & on which your judgment & opinion should be her guide, but considering all that has passed she must not say one thing to you, & do another—You are, I grant, the only human being in whom she can confide, in whom it is fair & reasonable to expect her to confide, be her penitence what it may—but in you she is now bound to confide implicitly—& to you she is bound to obey implicitly.
