Page:Wives of the prime ministers, 1844-1906.djvu/60

WIVES OF THE PRIME MINISTERS only trifled with my feelings in order to betray me. I despise as well as leave you. Instead of jealousy I only feel contempt. Farewell. Go, and be happy.'"

Bulwer records that a fever ensued and that he lost twenty ounces of blood, but that he endeavoured and with success to forget the whole episode, an easy feat since his feeling had chiefly been a mixture of vanity and imagination. He also testified to Lamb's kindness to him. "I think he saw my feelings. He is a singularly fine character for a man of the world."

The episode, however, left a deep impression on Bulwer, for he drew her in several of his early sketches for novels. He also described her in a satirical sketch of Almack's, which expresses Bulwer's belief that her attachments were as innocent as they were fickle:

For a time Lady Caroline continued to correspond with him, and her letters give a 34