...for every word you wrote!

] I think that Tom was JA's first, and perhaps only, love.

I wish so desperately to believe that!

] As far as Tom's suffering a little because of his family's disapproval, (snip) So it doesn't sound like he suffered much or long.

Well, I won't touch that with the proverbial ten-foot pole.

] (snip) I believe she really may have been broken-hearted but was being flippant to hide her real feelings.

Me, too.

] I visited Tom's estate in Ireland several years ago, (snip)

I am turning green now.

] making the point that Irish songs were generally quite popular in England at the time, so her collection may not have had a special meaning to her.

Oh, yes, I thoroughly understand about Irish songs and that is why they would have a special meaning for her as well.

] In a visit to Chawton in '99, we were fortunate to be allowed into their "archives" room, (snip) One song was "The Love of an Irishman," (snip) I'll bet she was thinking of Tom as she copied that song.

Yes, yes, yes!

] But JA found in her writing some deep satisfactions that I'm sure she would never have known had she married and raised a family. (snip) She lost Tom but gained a world that I believe fulfilled her in ways that marriage could never have done.

Believing that keeps me sane.

And thanks to Frank for saving me the time to dig up Tom's picture from the depths of my files, it (Tom's picture) is now on my desktop, smiling at me everytime I turn on my computer. I don't usually "get" much from those old pictures - the people don't look that natural or real, but, I can't explain it, for some reason that particular picture "speaks to my soul". I can "see" what Jane saw in him. And all this is why Persuasion is now my favorite novel, believing that she threw so much of herself into it.

Thank you, Frank, I will have a nice day!