"My dear, wandering boy," the letter began, "I do not know where you
are, or if you are well and alive, or are in trouble, for I have not
heard from you for many months. I am sending this at random into that
great America in the hope that it may reach you some day to tell you
that your mother is constantly thinking of you. Your brother Jack is
still in India with his regiment, but will soon retire and come home.
Your sister Helen and her husband are I know not where. Mowbray turned
out very badly, as your father believed he would, and he had to run from
his creditors, and the enemies he had made through his dishonest
practices. I don't know where they are, but it is my belief that they
have gone to America. I wonder if you will ever run across them? If you
do, tell Helen to leave the beast and come home, and both her father and
I will forgive, and she can take her place here as if she had never met
him. And this leads me to tell you that your father has greatly changed
since you left us, and has even said that he was sorry for his
harshness, and wished you had stayed with us. We are very lonely with
all of our children away from us. Come back to your mother, and all will
be different."
There were many expressions of mother love in the letter, which was
signed and dated from The Towers, Huntingdon, several years before.
Pages:
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172