What has happened in this
situation may happen in another. Your way of life, however pure your
conduct may be--and I will do you the justice to believe it pure--is
a suspicious way of life to all respectable people. I have lived long
enough in this world to know that the sense of Propriety, in nine
Englishwomen out of ten, makes no allowances and feels no pity. Norah's
next employers may discover you; and Norah may throw up a situation next
time which we may never be able to find for her again.
"I leave you to consider this. My child, don't think I am hard on you. I
am jealous for your sister's tranquillity. If you will forget the past,
Magdalen, and come back, trust to your old governess to forget it too,
and to give you the home which your father and mother once gave her.
Your friend, my dear, always,
"HARRIET GARTH."
V.
_From Francis Clare, Jun., to Magdalen._
"Shanghai, China, April 23d, 1847.
"MY DEAR MAGDALEN--I have deferred answering your letter, in consequence
of the distracted state of my mind, which made me unfit to write to you.
I am still unfit, but I feel I ought to delay no longer. My sense of
honor fortifies me, and I undergo the pain of writing this letter.
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