(to Ch.

VIII)] _The King of the Belgians to Queen Victoria._ OSTENDE, _21st September 1839._ MY DEAREST VICTORIA,--Your _delightful_ little letter has just arrived and went like _an arrow to my heart._ Yes, my beloved Victoria! I _do love you tenderly_, and with all the power of affection which is often found in characters who do not make much outward show of it.

I love you _for yourself_, and I love in you the dear child whose welfare I carefully watched.

My great wish is always that you should _know_ that I am _desirous_ of _being useful_ to you, without _hoping for any other return_ than some little affection from your warm and kind heart.

I am even so far pleased that my eternal political affairs are settled, as it takes away the _last possibility_ of imagining that I may want something or other.