harriet at this time i was not yet in the habit of keeping copies of my correspondence , so i dont know exactly what i answered her , but i must have tried to assuage her bitter self-reproach by saying that im sure we all wish some people dead sometimes ; and i must also have mentioned that i had read somewhere that if thoughts could in fact kill we would depopulate the planet in a matter of hours , for she makes a reference to that in her reply , guessing , she said , it would take minutes , not hours .