This strange confession of love meant so much to me ; my heart leaped forth to meet it with answering love . What mattered it that we could never meet -- that I could not even guess who my lover was ? Somewhere in the world was a love that was mine alone and mine wholly and mine forever . What mattered his name or his station , or the mysterious barrier between us ? Spirit leaped to spirit unhindered over the fettering bounds of matter and time . I loved and was beloved . Nothing else mattered . I wrote my answer to his letter . I wrote it fearlessly and unstintedly . Perhaps I could not have written so freely if the letter were to have been read by him ; as it was , I poured out the riches of my love as fully as he had done . I kept nothing back , and across the gulf between us I vowed a faithful and enduring love in response to his . The next day I went to town on business with my lawyers . Neither of the members of the firm was in when I called , but I was an old client , and one of the clerks showed me into the private office to wait . As I sat down my eyes fell on a folded letter lying on the table beside me . With a shock of surprise I recognized the writing . I could not be mistaken -- I should have recognized it anywhere . The letter was lying by its envelope , so folded that only the middle third of the page was visible . An irresistible impulse swept over me . Before I could reflect that I had no business to touch the letter , that perhaps it was unfair to my unknown friend to seek to discover his identity when he wished to hide it , I had turned the letter over and seen the signature . I laid it down again and stood up , dizzy , breathless , unseeing .
Like a woman in a dream I walked through the outer office and XXXXX the street .
As across beside between down in into on that with