and the mother of my child—the friend to whom I am indebted for the kindest of all possible services, and the one human being to whom I can pour out my soul in the full confidence of my feelings being appreciated. Now I am at this distance, I feel even more than in your presence the extent of my obligations, and my heart aches to be with you, that we may gaze upon our sweet boy together. It is, indeed, no marvel that I can speak to you more fully on paper than when I am with you, for then I am sensible of the disparity in our years; I have a dread that my love may appear foolish, perhaps disgusting to you, or that, with the knowledge you now possess of the years in which I was the slave of an unfortunate, but certainly a reciprocated passion, you may be inclined to despise that which I can offer as the dregs of an exhausted heart—the unworthy offering of a vain old man, unworthy of your youth and beauty.
"Mistake me not, my dear Margaretta; you have given me no reason even for a moment to believe that circumstances have lessened your affection for me; that my sickness, or my sorrow, have changed me in your sight. I say only that fears of this description haunt me—a circumstance which occurred to me since my absence has shown me how great a change has occurred in my person.
"You know I embarked at Pisa in a vessel bound for Messina, but engaged to land passengers at Naples. We had scarcely got out, when my attention
