Autograph letter signed with initials : [London], to Richard Hengist Horne, Sunday. [1844 July 21]

Asking him to forgive her for needing to postpone his visit; explaining that she has just finished her book saying "Oh - you know it - you guess it! you had a presentiment of the empty shawl left on the sofa!! - ...& I, very tired, & requiring every breath of life & sinew of strength belonging to me, to bear up under the excitement of the next fortnight . . without the avatar of such a demi-god as Orion to thunder me into dust. I must, . .I ought to hold my breath . . & be very quiet, for the duties & necessities of my undertaking - having very serious thoughts of being ill comfortably & at all leisure, when the litter of proofs is swept away - & I have been thinking of seeing you till I am half in a fever, - & come at last to throw myself on your generosity & all the forgiveness in your power, to forgive me withal, & allow me to put off our interview until you come back from Germany! - Will you? & will you promise not to give me up, in a pet; - just as I do a riddle, which is not worth taking the trouble of making out! - And also, will you believe that I wish & desire to see you face to face notwithstanding my hide-and-seek ways, - & that visibly or invisibly I shall be sure always to have a sincere regard for you?...somebody swore to me the other day, who had known me since I was in my teens, that except for looking paler & thinner, I had not since then altered one shade or line; & must have hermetically sealed myself up out of the air of changes, on purpose. And then it is proved, you know, that I cant possible die - Therefore we shall meet on the same level after your return from the continent;" adding that he shall have her "first volume - but the preface is not printed, & I sh'd like you to have it complete;" asking when he leaves London and for instructions on where to send her book."