I was extremely mortified yesterday evening at not being able to appear at the house of my dear friend. I had a Visitation which lasted until eleven o’clock.

Many thanks for the kind trouble you took to procure those books. I will return them soon in good order. I am also very obliged to Monsieur de Bospin.

It is true that I have often said that I love you too much, and I have told the truth. Judge, by a comparison I am going to make, which of us two loves the more. If I say to a friend: “I need your horses to take a journey, lend them to me,” and he replies: “I should be very glad to oblige you, but I fear that they will be ruined by this expedition and cannot bring myself to lend them to anyone,” must I not conclude that the man loves his horses more than he loves me? And if, in the same case, I should willingly risk my horses by lending them to him, is it not clear that I love him more than my horses, and also more than he loves me? You know that I am ready to sacrifice my beautiful, big horses.