I did not think that any earthly event could have moved me so
profoundly. From the world I have long stood aloof. I once led a life of
pleasure--alas! of wickedness--as I now do one of austerity; but as I never
was rich, so my worst enemy will allow I never was avaricious. My sins, I
thank my Maker, have been of a more reducible kind, and have succumbed to
the discipline which Heaven has provided. To earth and its interests, as
well as to its pleasures, I have long been dead. For the few remaining
years of my life I ask but quiet--an exemption from the agitations and
distractions of struggle and care, and I trust to the Giver of all Good for
my deliverance--well knowing, at the same time, that whatever befalls will,
under His direction, prove best. Happy shall I be, my dearest niece, if in
your most interesting and, in some respects, forlorn situation, I can be
of any use to you. My present religious adviser--of whom I ventured to ask
counsel on your behalf--states that I ought to send some one to represent
me at the melancholy ceremony of reading the will which my beloved and now
happy brother has, no doubt, left behind; and the idea that the experience
and professional knowledge possessed by the gentleman whom I have selected
may possibly be of use to you, my dearest niece, determines me to place
him at your disposal.
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