" TeU me that you vriU stiU be mine ; tell me that
you win be mine to-morrow ; and to-morrow these vile
chains shall be removed, and I wUl be free once more' —
or if bound, only bound to you ! My adorable Matilda !
my betrothed bride ! write to me ere the evening closes,
for I shall never be able to shut my eyes in slumber
upon my prison-couch, until they have been first blest
by the sight of a few words from thee ! Write to me,
love ! write to me ! I languish for the reply which is
to make or mar me for ever.
" Your affectionate,

"A. P. D."

Having polisht off this epistol, master intrustid it to
me to carry, and bade me, at the same time, to try and
give it into Miss GriflSn's hand alone. I ran with it to
Lady Griflanses. I found miss, as I desired, in a soUa-
taiy condition ; and I presented her with master's <fia-
fewmed Billy.
She read it, and the number of size to which she
gave vint, and the tears which she shed, beggar dig-
scription. She wep and sighed until I thought she



156 THE YEILOWPLUSH PAPERS.
would bust. She claspt my hand even in her's, and
said, " 0, Charles ! is he very, very miserable ?"

" He is, ma'am,'* says I ; " very miserable indeed —
nobody, upon my honour, could be miserablerer.''

On hearing this pethetic remark, her mind was
made up at onst : and sitting down to her eskrewtaw,
she immediantly ableaged master with an anser. Here
it is in black and white.
