Somebody has told her,--though who it may have been I
cannot guess,--but somebody has been endeavoring to do you all the
mischief he can in the matter, and has made mamma think evil of you. She
says that after attacking him, and brutally ill-using him, you had left
him in the street, and had subsequently denied all knowledge of having
seen him. You will perceive that somebody has been at work inventing a
story to do you a mischief, and I think it right that I should tell you.
"But you must never believe that I shall believe anything to your
discredit. It would be to my discredit now. I know that you are good,
and true, and noble, and that you would not do anything so foul as this.
It is because I know this that I have loved you, and shall always love
you. Let mamma and others say what they will, you are now to me all the
world. Oh, Harry, Harry, when I think of it, how serious it seems to me,
and yet how joyful! I exult in you, and will do so, let them say what
they may against you. You will be sure of that always. Will you not be
sure of it?
"But you must not write a line in answer, not even to give me your
assurance. That must come when we shall meet at length,--say after a
dozen years or so. I shall tell mamma of this letter, which
circumstances seem to demand, and shall assure her that you will write
no answer to it.
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