Perhaps
she does not make the highest demand on me, a religious demand.
Some, with whose prejudices or peculiar bias I have no sympathy,
yet inspire me with confidence, and I trust that they confide in
me also as a religious heathen at least, - a good Greek.
I, too,
have principles as well founded as their own. If this person
could conceive that, without wilfulness, I associate with her as
far as our destinies are coincident, as far as our Good Geniuses
permit, and still value such intercourse, it would be a grateful
assurance to me. I feel as if I appeared careless, indifferent,
and without principle to her, not expecting more, and yet not
content with less. If she could know that I make an infinite
demand on myself, as well as on all others, she would see that
this true though incomplete intercourse, is infinitely better
than a more unreserved but falsely grounded one, without the
principle of growth in it. For a companion, I require one who
will make an equal demand on me with my own genius. Such a one
will always be rightly tolerant. It is suicide, and corrupts
good manners to welcome any less than this. I value and trust
those who love and praise my aspiration rather than my
performance. If you would not stop to look at me, but look
whither I am looking, and farther, then my education could not
dispense with your company.
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