It is a great grief, I know, but not without its
consolations, for it is our beautiful privilege, to live in hope,
awaiting the day of a happy re-union with those who are not lost but
only gone before.
"In the early hours of our sorrow, no matter what its nature may be,
we cannot incline ourselves to look upon the brighter side, which our
friends will endeavour to hold up to us; therefore I will not intrude
my feeble words of comfort upon you now; my object in writing to you
at present is to ask you whether you intend to live on with your
father's second wife or not?
"If you should find yourself in any dilemma pertaining to this
critical question, I wish you to understand, that my house and home
(such as they are) will always be open to you. You have a right to
them, and nothing would give me greater pleasure, than to have you
with me. In a sense we are strangers, for circumstances have kept us
apart, but, I think I love you more dearly than any of those with
whose names and lives you are more familiar.
"I am the only surviving relative of your dear, dead mother in this
country; our fathers, being brothers, but as I lost mine in my early
youth, I was brought up in my uncle's house, with your mother for a
little sister.
"It now happens, that you may need the shelter of a real home. I wish
I had better to offer you, but such as it is, I beg you will not
hesitate to accept it, if it can relieve you from greater discomforts.
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