n 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.

"He seems a gentlemanly person enough, but may be an impostor
for aught I know. The young lady he was engaged to, Gregory
tells me, perished in the Kosciusko, which proves a relief,
after all, as it is rumored he has a wife in Europe. But such
gossip can hardly interest you very vividly. The man has gone to
California, and will probably return no more.

"Did you, or did you not, meet this person at Colonel La
Vigne's? Favraud hinted something of the kind when he was here;
but I can get no satisfaction from Gregory.

"They all believe you were drowned in Georgia, and I thought it
best for the present not to undeceive Favraud, who laments your
fate.

"The surprise will be all the more pleasant; and, of co