in town,
proceeded as follows:--

"Your health has been a source of great anxiety to us all, not only in
the counting-house, but in the drawing-room; the cause of your illness
was ascribed to over-exertion in your duties, and it must be admitted,
that until you were ill there was no relaxation on your part; but we
have reason to suppose that there have been other causes which may
have occasioned your rapid change from activity and cheerfulness to
such a total prostration of body and mind. You may feel grieved when
I tell you that Emma has been very unwell since you left, and the
cause of her illness is beyond the skill of Mr Taylor, our medical
man. She has, however, confided so much to her mother as to let us
know that you are the party who has been the chief occasion of it.
She has acknowledged that she has not behaved well to you, and has not
done you justice; and I really believe that it is this conviction
which is the chief ground of her altered state of health. I certainly
have been too much in the counting-house to know what has been going
on in the parlour, but I think that you ought to know us better than
to suppose that we should not in every point be most anxious for your
happiness, and your being constantly with us. That Emma blames
herself is certain; that she is very amiable, is equally so; your
return would give us the greatest satisfaction. I hardly need say I
love my niece, and am anxious for her happiness; I love you, my dear
friend, and am equally anxious for yours; and I do trust that any
trifling disagreement between you (for surely you must be on intimate
terms to quarrel, and for her to feel the quarrel so severely) will be
speedily overcome. From what her mother says, I think that her
affections are seriously engaged (I treat you with the confidence I am
sure you deserve), and I am sure that there is no one upon whom I
would so willingly bestow my niece; or as I find by questioning, no
one to whom Mrs Phillips would so willingly entrust her daughter.
If; then, I am right in my supposition, you will be received with open
arms by all, not even excepting Emma--she has no coquetry in her
composition. Like all the rest of us, she has her faults; but if she
has her faults, she is not too proud to acknowledge them, and that you
will allow when you read the enclosed, which she has requested me to
send to you, and at the same ti