Sad Letter

One sad letter I have read... very sad indeed that I almost cry while reading the book.


My dearest Richard
For you are still dearest to me, though you have been so cruel. Better if you have found the courage to stay, and show patience, and take your part in our trouble, not heap on more vanishing. Things have been hard with all of us since you left. First, mother spent a fortune seeking you, and all of us suffered Mr Coldstone's anger as money slipped steadily away. "What! Yet another costly search! Let the ungrateful boy be lost forever. Waste more of your dwindling fortune on this folly and I will make you pay for it twice".

And so he did. Last year she died (of him too close, and you too far). And, from the day that she was buried, he would not give a penny to look for you. "why hunt for such a knave". It fell to me to keep the search alive. I have no money of my own. And so, last year, upon my sixteenth birthday, I married Charles. I do not love him as I know I should, and he cannot make me happy. But he is prosperous, and he has promised to keep up the search. His solicitor put notices in every paper daily.

And perhaps you will never see them. Or this sad letter (for you must have fled halfway across the globe). But, if you do, take a moment to weep, for this will be the first and only letter you will receive from your loving sister. If I should live, I'd not allow a shadow on your homecoming. But if I die in fever of childbirth, as so many do, then Charles will send this letter to our old home, to tell you why you return to cold , cold silence.

Fare you well, brother