mention, mention not again. Admit not even a doubt as to the
propriety of hiding it from all the world. There are eyes who will
discern this doubt amidst the closest folds of your heart, and your
life will instantly be sacrificed.

At present be the subject dismissed. Reflect deeply on the
duty which you have already incurred. Think upon your strength of
mind, and be careful not to lay yourself under impracticable
obligations. It will always be in your power to recede. Even
after you are solemnly enrolled a member, you may consult the
dictates of your own understanding, and relinquish your post; but
while you live, the obligation to be silent will perpetually attend
you.

We seek not the misery or death of any one, but we are swayed
by an immutable calculation. Death is to be abhorred, but the life
of the betrayer is productive of more evil than his death: his
death, therefore, we chuse, and our means are instantaneous and
unerring.

I love you. The first impulse of my love is to dissuade you
from seeking to know more. Your mind will be full of ideas; your
hands will be perpetually busy to a purpose into which no human
creature, beyond the verge of your brotherhood, must pry. Believe
me, who have made the experiment, that compared with this task, the
task of inviolable secrecy, all others are easy. To be dumb will
not suffice; never to know any remission in your zeal or your
watchfulness will not suffice. If the sagacity of others detect
your occupations, however strenuously you may labour for
concealment, your doom is ratified, as well as that of the wretch