It looks to me as if you two, far from growing nearer, are snapping the bonds that hold you together, one after another. I suppose you must both of you consult your own hearts, honestly. She must see if she really wants you, wants to keep you and to have no other man all her life. It means forfeiting something. But the only principle I can see in this life, is that one must forfeit the less for the greater. Only one must be thoroughly honest about it.
She must say, “Could I live in a little place in Italy, with Jack, and be lonely, have rather a bare life, but be happy?” If she could, then take her money. If she doesn't want to, don't try.
But don't beat about the bush. In the way you go on, you are inevitably coming apart. She is perhaps beginning to be unsatisfied with you. And you can't make her more satisfied by being unselfish. You must say, “How can I make myself most healthy, strong, and satisfactory to myself and to her?” If by being lazy for six months, then be lazy, and take her money. It doesn't matter if she misses her luxuries: she won't die of it. What luxuries do you mean?
If she doesn't want to stake her whole life and being on you, then go to your University abroad for a while, alone. I warn you, it'll be hellish barren.
Or else you can gradually come apart in London, and then flounder till you get your feet again, severally, but be clear about it. It lies between you and Katherine, nowhere else.
Of course you can't dream of living long without work. Couldn't you get the Westminster to give you two columns a week, abroad? You must try. You must stick to criticism. You ought also to plan a book, either on some literary point, or some man. I should like to write a book on English heroines. You ought to do something of that sort, but not so cheap. Don't try a novel—try essays—like Walter Pater or somebody of that style. But you can do something good in that line; something concerning literature rather than life.
And you must rest, and you and Katherine must heal, and come together, before you do any serious w