CHAPTER XXXIII.
Need we say that our anxious wife broke the seal in haste? No! we are all aware that even the child could not prevent attention, instant attention; to the father, from a wife so devoted, and within so short a time relieved from doubts and fears of the most distressing nature, the first words startled her even now.
"My dear Margaretta,
"I cannot forbear to call you thus in writing; to no other name could I address myself so freely and pleasurably, and since it really is your's, I know you will not object, even if the memory of the past mingle with the present. You have given me so many causes for holding you in the highest degree as an object of pure esteem and warm affection, that you can never suppose my heart can cease to acknowledge your claims, or look upon you rather as my friend Granard's little daughter, than the excellent young woman whose virtues have outgrown her years, rendering her the next successor of her gifted cousin, and so far dearer to me, that she is my wedded wife
