No burnt bridges. Phew.

Re-cap. I queried Agent #1 by email. She writes back asking to submit a partial by mail. She reads, emails and requests the full manuscript. Her attached letter indicates she expects an "exclusive." I mail it off. Meantime, my future Agentress emails after reading my query and says "email your full manuscript as an attachment." Why wouldn't I? That was Friday.

My future Agentress then emails me Sunday around midnight. Her email: "I loved it. I'd love to talk to you about it."

I sign with Agentress later in the week. Meanwhile, I kind of conveniently forget about Agent #1, thinking the easy thing to do is to let it play out. Monday (today) comes and I decide that's probably not cool. I mention to Agentress. She agrees. I'd signed a contract, after all. In any case, I apologize profusely about the turn of events to Agent #1 this morning and I recieved two replies. The first was all pith; she wanted to know the name of my agent. The second included some tough talk, but some nice words too:

...You were actually one of the writers we were considering making a part of our own agency. But I’m glad you told us when you did -- before any further time and work elapsed. This may seem somewhat ungracious on my part, but, as I say, we do expect more honesty on the part of the writers who submit to us. We put a lot of ourselves into our reviews, and all of us participate.

This said, I’m sure your agency will work with professionalism and grace, and that they will sell you very well, and with the enthusiasm we would surely have shown. As I just said: you are a wonderful writer.

Best wishes,
Agent #1

Don't take this the wrong way, self, but if you never get published, at least you know you're a wonderful writer. That's not bad. Be psyched. I am.