“You know yourself, George,” says the
elder brother, returning the grip of his hand, “and
perhaps you know me better than I know myself.
Take your way. So that we don’t quite
lose one another again, take your way.”
“No fear of that!” returns the trooper.
“Now, before I turn my horse’s head homewards,
brother, I will ask you—if you’ll
be so good—to look over a letter for me.
I brought it with me to send from these parts, as
Chesney Wold might be a painful name just now to the
person it’s written to. I am not much accustomed
to correspondence myself, and I am particular respecting
this present letter because I want it to be both straightforward
and delicate.”
Herewith he hands a letter, closely written in somewhat
pale ink but in a neat round hand, to the ironmaster,
who reads as follows:
Miss Esther Summerson,
A communication having been made to me by Inspector
Bucket of a letter to myself being found among the
papers of a certain person, I take the liberty to
make known to you that it was but a few lines of instruction
from abroad, when, where, and how to deliver an enclosed
letter to a young and beautiful lady, then unmarried,
in England. I duly observed the same.
I further take the liberty to make known to you that
it was got from me as a proof of handwriting only
and that otherwise I would not have given it up, as
appearing to be the most harmless in my possession,
without being previously shot through the heart.
I further take the liberty to mention that if I could
have supposed a certain unfortunate gentleman to have
been in existence, I never could and never would have
rested until I had discovered his retreat and shared
my last farthing with him, as my duty and my inclination
would have equally been. But he was (officially)
reported drowned, and assuredly went over the side
of a transport-ship at night in an Irish harbour
within a few hours of her arrival from the West Indies,
as I have myself heard both from officers and men
on board, and know to have been (officially) confirmed.
I further take the liberty to state that in my humble
quality as one of the rank and file, I am, and shall
ever continue to be, your thoroughly devoted and admiring
servant and that I esteem the qualities you possess
above all others far beyond the limits of the present
dispatch.
I have the honour to be,
“A little formal,” observes the elder
brother, refolding it with a puzzled face.
“But nothing that might not be sent to a pattern
young lady?” asks the younger.
“Nothing at all.”
