Nicholas P. Trist to Virginia Jefferson Randolph
| Dearest Virginia | Monticello July 12th 1821 |
The interview I yesterday requested, and for the refusal of which, Hope forbids me to assign any other reason than your maiden modesty, was for the purpose of making a declaration of a passion which, unless my eye is not what the eye generally is “the index of the soul” you must have often read in it.—Since my return I have been in a state of suspense, which, if I have the smallest corner of your heart, you will be anxious to remove, and which if I have been doomed to adore a woman without return of Love, it is your duty to remove.
I know of no pen to which I would trust for an expression of my feelings, and will not therefore make the attempt myself, but entreat you, dearest Virginia, to believe that every one the most devoted attachment can give rise to, is [. . .] experienced by