Unwholesome Vapors

"You never saw the daughter! How was that?"

"I must have expressed myself awkwardly if I conveyed any such idea.
I did not meet the seafaring husband who was off upon a long cruise.
The wife I met constantly--knew very well. You need not look at me
so intently, love, as if you feared that some dark mystery lurked
behind this matter-of-fact recital. If I do not tell you every event
of my former life, it is not because it was vile. I could not
sustain the light of your innocent eyes if I had ever been guilty of
aught dishonorable or criminal. But even the follies and mistakes of
a young man's early career are not fit themes for your ears. And I
was no wiser, no more wary, than other youths of the same age; was
apt to believe that fair which was only specious, and that I might
play, uninjured, with edged tools. Nor had I seen you then, my
treasure--my snow-drop of purity! Mabel! do you know how solemn a
thing it is to be loved and trusted by a man, as I love and confide
in you? It terrifies me when I think of the absoluteness of my
dependence upon your fidelity--of how rich I am in having you--how
poor, wretched, and miserable I should be without you. I shall not
draw a free breath until you are mine beyond the chance of recall."