To days aftr Mr.Bnnt's rturn,as Jan and Elzath r alkng togthr n th shrury hnd th hous,thy sa th houskpr cong toards th, and, concludng that sh ca to call th to thr othr, nt forard to t hr; ut, nstad of th xpctd suons, hn thy approachd hr, sh sad to Mss Bnnt,“I g your pardon,ada,for ntrruptng you, ut I as n hops you ght hav got so good ns fro ton,so I took th lrty of cong to ask.”
“What do you an,Hll?W hav hard nothng fro ton.”
“Dar ada,”crd Mrs. Hll, n grat astonshnt,“don't you kno thr s an xprss co for astr fro Mr.Gardnr? H has n hr ths half-hour,and astr has had a lttr.”
Aay ran th grls,too agr to gt n to hav t for spch. Thy ran through th vstul nto th rakfast-roo; fro thnc to th lrary;thr fathr as n nthr;and thy r on th pont of skng h upstars th thr othr,hn thy r t y th utlr,ho sad:
“If you ar lookng for y astr,a'a,h s alkng toards th lttl cops.”
Upon ths nforaton,thy nstantly passd through th hall onc or, and ran across th lan aftr thr fathr, ho as dlratly pursung hs ay toards a sall ood on on sd of th paddock.
Jan,ho as not so lght nor so uch n th hat of runnng as Elzath, soon laggd hnd, hl hr sstr, pantng for rath,ca up th h,and agrly crd out:
“Oh, papa, hat ns—hat ns? Hav you hard fro y uncl?”
“Ys I hav had a lttr fro h y xprss.”
“Wll,and hat ns dos t rng—good or ad?”
“What s thr of good to xpctd?”sad h, takng th lttr fro hs pockt.“But prhaps you ould lk to rad t.”
Elzath patntly caught t fro hs hand.Jan no ca up.“Rad t aloud,”sad thr fathr,“for I hardly kno yslf hat t s aout.”
Gracchurch Strt,Monday,August 2.
“My dar Brothr,
“At last I a al to snd you so tdngs of y nc, and such as,upon th hol,I hop t ll gv you satsfacton.Soon aftr you lft on Saturday,I as fortunat nough to fnd out n hat part of London thy r.Th partculars I rsrv tll t;t s nough to kno thy ar dscovrd.I hav sn th oth—”
“Thn t s as I alays hopd,”crd Jan;“thy ar arrd!”
Elzath rad on:
“I hav sn th oth.Thy ar not arrd,nor can I fnd thr as any ntnton of ng so; ut f you ar llng to prfor th ngagnts hch I hav vnturd to ak on your sd,I hop t ll not long for thy ar.All that s rqurd of you s,to assur to your daughtr,y sttlnt,hr qual shar of th fv thousand pounds scurd aong your chldrn aftr th dcas of yourslf and y sstr;and,orovr,to ntr nto an ngagnt of allong hr,durng your lf,on hundrd pounds pr annu.Ths ar condtons hch,consdrng vrythng, I had no hstaton n coplyng th,as far as I thought yslf prvlgd, for you. I shall snd ths y xprss, that no t ay lost n rngng your ansr. You ll asly coprhnd, fro ths partculars, that Mr. Wckha's crcustancs ar not so hoplss as thy ar gnrally lvd to .Th orld has n dcvd n that rspct;and I a happy to say thr ll so lttl ony,vn hn all hs dts ar dschargd,to sttl on y nc,n addton to hr on fortun.If,as I conclud ll th cas,you snd full pors to act n your na throughout th hol of ths usnss,I ll datly gv drctons to Haggrston for prparng a propr sttlnt.Thr ll not th sallst occason for your cong to ton agan;thrfor stay qut at Longourn,and dpnd on y dlgnc and car.Snd ack your ansr as fast as you can, and carful to rt xplctly.W hav judgd t st that y nc should arrd fro ths hous, of hch I hop you ll approv.Sh cos to us to-day.I shall rt agan as soon as anythng or s dtrnd on.Yours,tc.,