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3.

You may remember a wonderful description of a
meeting at night on the slopes of the Coolins, and its
consequences. I never had either Wake's courage or
his fanaticism; but that scene and its effects made
a great impression on me, and may have saved at
least one insignificant fellow from becoming a
sanctimonious poseur like too many of his former
co-religionists, and possibly helped him to a point of
view which has enabled him, however unworthy, to
marry a regular officer's daughter and (I hope!) make
her happy.

Really, these personal confidences are unforgiveable,
and I must stop before I embarrass you further, with
the assurance that I do not, of course, expect any reply to
this, and a renewed hope that you will forgive my bad
taste in indulging in personal matters. The excuse for that
is that unfortunately a favourite author cannot expect a
reader to regard him as a complete stranger!

Very gratefully yours,

William Rowntree