Indeed, the _Quarterly_ had half hinted as much.
Currer Bell, knowing nothing of the gossip of London, had dedicated her
book in single-minded enthusiasm. Her distress was keen when it was
revealed to her that the wife of Mr. Thackeray, like the wife of
Rochester in _Jane Eyre_, was of unsound mind. However, a correspondence
with him would seem to have ended amicably enough. {408}
TO W. S. WILLIAMS
'HAWORTH, _January_ 28_th_, 1848.
'DEAR SIR,--I need not tell you that when I saw Mr. Thackeray's
letter inclosed under your cover, the sight made me very happy. It
was some time before I dared open it, lest my pleasure in receiving
it should be mixed with pain on learning its contents--lest, in
short, the dedication should have been, in some way, unacceptable to
him.
'And, to tell you the truth, I fear this must have been the case; he
does not say so, his letter is most friendly in its noble simplicity,
but he apprises me, at the commencement, of a circumstance which both
surprised and dismayed me.
'I suppose it is no indiscretion to tell you this circumstance, for
you doubtless know it already. It appears that his private position
is in some points similar to that I have ascribed to Mr.
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