Page:The life of Charlotte Brontë (IA lifeofcharlotteb02gaskrich).pdf/280

 my thought, 'I want first to be free;' work first, then pleasure."

Miss 's visit had done her much good. Pleasant companionship during the day produced, for the time, the unusual blessing of calm repose at night; and, after her friend's departure, she was well enough to "fall to business," and write away, almost incessantly, at her story of "Villette," now drawing to a conclusion. The following letter to Mr. Smith, seems to have accompanied the first part of the MS.

1em

"My dear Sir,—You must notify honestly what you think of "Villette" when you have read it. I can hardly tell you how I hunger to hear some opinion besides my own, and how I have sometimes desponded, and almost despaired, because there was no one to whom to read a line, or of whom to ask a counsel. 'Jane Eyre' was not written under such circumstances, nor were two-thirds of 'Shirley.' I got so miserable about it, I could bear no allusion to the book. It is not finished yet; but now I hope. As to the anonymous publication, I have this to say: If the withholding of the author's name should tend materially to injure the publisher's interest, to interfere with booksellers' orders, &c., I would not press the point; but if no such detriment is contingent, I should be most thankful for the sheltering shadow of an incognito. I seem to dread the