After the lapse of many days I find my letter only half written; but anxiety thickens upon us, and my Julia will excuse me. My poor aunt Howard’s situation is so precarious, that we know not what a day may bring forth. My dear uncle declines, alas, too visibly to leave a doubt that the dreaded moment is at hand! and though Lady Crayton is recovering rapidly, she is, to my eye, a more melancholy object than even death itself. La Tour’s words vibrate on my senses: they are a true picture; “_elle se consolera bientôt!_” Yes; _elle se console_, and with so little reference to _decency_, that though at the arrival of every English mail we expect the _last_ accounts of her mother’s existence, and her husband’s bleeding image seems to dwell amongst us, _she_ is able to talk of indifferent matters, and her only solicitude literally appears at present to display itself only in contrivances for rendering her weeds becoming. She wishes for Arthur, _not_ that she may enjoy a brother’s sympathy, but to know the utmost that can be done to make her independent. On hearing from mamma that a considerable sum had been remitted for the payment of Lord Crayton’s debts in Milan, conceive her proposing that Arthur should be written to directly, to desire that he might reserve this money for her use, and leave her husband’s debts unpaid! Oh, Julia, poor Adelaide was not worse than others by nature; and is this the end of a fashionable education? I am sick at heart, and turn from the contemplation of my cousin’s future career to rest on the pleasing thought of Madame de Lisle, with whom we are delighted. Though evidently bent on seclusion, and desirous of avoiding even a limited society, she would not refuse _us_ the pleasure of calling upon her; and, from her first interview with mamma, she has not required that we should again solicit her acquaintance. I never saw such sympathy between two beings so far separated by different age and country.