I want you for the companion of my life; I don't see very well how I am to do without you.

You know, I think, that I have only a moderate competence; it's enough to live upon without miseries, that's all one can say.

Probably I shall never be richer, for I can't promise to exert myself to earn money; I wish to live for other things.

You can picture the kind of life I want you to share.

You know me well enough to understand that my wife--if we use the old word--would be as free to live in her own way as I to live in mine.