_From Norah Vanstone to Miss Garth._
"Portland Place.
"MY DEAR MISS GARTH--Forget the letter I wrote to you yesterday, and all
the gloomy forebodings that it contains. This morning's post has brought
new life to me. I have just received a letter, addressed to me at your
house, and forwarded here, in your absence from home yesterday, by your
sister. Can you guess who the writer is?--Magdalen!
"The letter is very short; it seems to have been written in a hurry. She
says she has been dreaming of me for some nights past, and the dreams
have made her fear that her long silence has caused me more distress on
her account than she is worth. She writes, therefore, to assure me that
she is safe and well--that she hopes to see me before long--and that she
has something to tell me, when we meet, which will try my sisterly love
for her as nothing has tried it yet. The letter is not dated; but
the postmark is 'Allonby,' which I have found, on referring to the
Gazetteer, to be a little sea-side place in Cumberland. There is no hope
of my being able to write back, for Magdalen expressly says that she is
on the eve of departure from her present residence, and that she is not
at liberty to say where she is going to next, or to leave instructions
for forwarding any letters after her.
"In happier times I should have thought this letter very far from being
a satisfactory one, and I should have been seriously alarmed by that
allusion to a future confidence on her part which will try my love
for her as nothing has tried it yet. But after all the suspense I have
suffered, the happiness of seeing her handwriting again seems to fill
my heart and to keep all other feelings out of it. I don't send you her
letter, because I know you are coming to me soon, and I want to have the
pleasure of seeing you read it.
"Ever affectionately yours,
"NORAH.
"P.S.--Mr. George Bartram called on Mrs. Tyrrel to-day. He insisted on
being introduced to the children. When he was gone, Mrs. Tyrrel laughed
in her good-humored way, and said that his anxiety to see the children
looked, to her mind, very much like an anxiety to see _me_. You may
imagine how my spirits are improved when I can occupy my pen in writing
such nonsense as this!"