It ran as
follows (I still possess this billet with others of his inditing--along
with a snake's rattle):
"MIRIAM: I am glad to hear through Mrs. Clayton that reaction has
occurred, and that you manifest repentance for your recent violence
toward one who always means you well. A little jesting on the part of
your guardian, my dear girl, should meet with a very different
reception, and handsome women must submit to compliments with a good
grace, or run the risk of being called prudes or viragos. Not that I
mean to apply either term to you by any means. Your father's daughter
could not be other than a lady, even if she tried, but I must confess
your manners have deteriorated somewhat since you went into voluntary
banishment among those outlandish people. I have heard no very good
account of this old La Vigne who died in debt, it seems, and left his
children beggars. I have some curiosity to know whether he paid your
salary. 'Straws show,' you know, etc.
"It is now October; by the end of this month I hope you will have made
up that stubborn mind of yours (truly indomitable, as I often say to
Evelyn) to leave seclusion, and enter your family once more in the only
way you can do so respectably after what has occurred--as a married
woman.
"You remember the French song which I was always fond of humming, 'Ou
est on si bien qu'au sein de sa famille?' How appropriate it seems to
your condition!
"You will be surprised to hear that your step-mother's brother has
appeared on the tapis, and that he has had the audacity to propose to
adopt Mabel, whom he claims as his niece.
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