'MY DEAR ELLEN,--The inclosure in yours of yesterday puzzled me at
first, for I did not immediately recognise my own hand-writing; when
I did, the sensation was one of consternation and vexation, as the
letter ought by all means to have gone on Friday. It was intended to
relieve him of great anxiety. However, I trust he will get it
to-day; and on the whole, when I think it over, I can only be
thankful that the mistake was no worse, and did not throw the letter
into the hands of some indifferent and unscrupulous person. I wrote
it after some days of indisposition and uneasiness, and when I felt
weak and unfit to write. While writing to him, I was at the same
time intending to answer your note, which I suppose accounts for the
confusion of ideas, shown in the mixed and blundering address.
'I wish you could come about Easter rather than at another time, for
this reason: Mr. Nicholls, if not prevented, proposes coming over
then. I suppose he will stay at Mr. Grant's, as he has done two or
three times before, but he will be frequently coming here, which
would enliven your visit a little. Perhaps, too, he might take a
walk with us occasionally. Altogether it would be a little change,
such as, you know, I could not always offer.
'If all be well he will come under different circumstances to any
that have attended his visits before; were it otherwise, I should not
ask you to meet him, for when aspects are gloomy and unpropitious,
the fewer there are to suffer from the cloud the better.
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