A new creed became mine--a belief in happiness.
It was three weeks since the adventure of the garret, and I possessed
in that case, box, drawer up-stairs, casketed with that first letter,
four companions like to it, traced by the same firm pen, sealed with
the same clear seal, full of the same vital comfort. Vital comfort it
seemed to me then: I read them in after years; they were kind letters
enough--pleasing letters, because composed by one well pleased; in the
two last there were three or four closing lines half-gay, half-tender,
"by _feeling_ touched, but not subdued." Time, dear reader,
mellowed them to a beverage of this mild quality; but when I first
tasted their elixir, fresh from the fount so honoured, it seemed juice
of a divine vintage: a draught which Hebe might fill, and the very
gods approve.
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