After the envelope had been addressed the
writer gave a sigh of relief, and rising from his seat, exclaimed:
"Heavens! I would rather than a fortune it was over with!"
Despite the fact that curiosity has been defined "the lowest emotion
of the soul," we cannot forbear glancing over the content of the
letter which seemed to affect the writer so deeply. It ran thus:--
ST. JOHN, Jan. 25th, 188-.
_Dear Friend_,--Intended to write you some days ago, but am now
at fever heat, and manufacture my thoughts accordingly. Going to
make no excuse, but come to the point right off. You heard the
report about Lawson. It is too true, and if I cannot choke him off
somehow, it is all up with me. I want to get the fellow out of the
way. Can you secure that site for him instead of poor Jim Watters?
If we can only get that deuced sprig of the law entrapped out there,
some goodly stroke of malaria may come to the rescue, and I can
breathe the grateful fog with double freedom. "Give the devil his
due," I believe the fellow is a veritable Mark Tapley--jolly under
all circumstances--and will in the end thank us for giving him a
change of climate and the vicissitudes of life so invigorating to
his athletic and muscular composition.
Pages:
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55