Oh , my dear , they do not know , they can not understand . The love I have given you has not left me poorer . It has enriched my life unspeakably ; it has opened my eyes and given me the gift of clear vision for those things that matter ; it has been a lamp held before my stumbling feet whereby I have avoided snares and pitfalls of baser passions and unworthy dreams . For all this I thank you , dear , and for all this surely the utmost that I can give of love and reverence and service is not too much . I could not have helped loving you . But if I could have helped it , knowing with just what measure of pain and joy it would brim my cup , I would have chosen to love you , Una . There are those who strive to forget a hopeless love . To me , the greatest misfortune that life could bring would be that I should forget you . I want to remember you always and love you and long for you . That would be unspeakably better than any happiness that could come to me through forgetting . Dear lady , good night . The sun has set ; there is now but one fiery dimple on the horizon , as if a golden finger had dented it -- now it is gone ; the mists are coming up over the sea . A kiss on each of your white hands , dear . Tonight I am too humble to lift my thoughts to your lips . The schoolmaster folded up his letter and held it against his cheek for a little space while he gazed out on the silver-shining sea with his dark eyes full of dreams . Then he took from his shabby trunk a little inlaid box and unlocked it with a twisted silver key . It was full of letters -- his letters to Una . The first had been written months ago , in the early promise of a northern spring . They linked together the golden weeks of the summer . Now , in the purple autumn , the box was full , and the schoolmaster 's term was nearly ended .
He took out the letters reverently and looked over them , now and then murmuring below his breath some passages scattered XXXXX the written pages .
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