By this, my dear brother, you must be as well informed of the history of the Ladies of Sargans, as myself; I am impatient to know your opinion of these papers, and whether the effect which they have produced upon _your_ mind is as strong, as that which during their perusal I experienced upon my own.—Yet that is impossible; my peculiar situation makes these annals inexpressibly interesting to me; and did not the parchments, from which I have copied them, bear unequivocal marks of their antiquity, I should suspect their having been written for the purpose of being laid before me. While I read, I was half tempted to believe, that the good old Abbot, who recommended them to my notice, had inserted all those passages, which apply so well to my own situation, in order to lead me unconsciously to the point, where he has been labouring to place me; and if this were the fact, how would he triumph in the success of his design! But the circumstances of these memoirs are alas! but too authentic; as to their antiquity I have such proofs of it, that I would boldly match them against the title-deeds of my domains, and other old documents of that period, at which these annals are stated to have been composed. Nevertheless, feeling it to be of no slight importance to me to know, whether what I had read was authentic or a mere fabrication, I spared no pains to ascertain the fact. You are aware, that I became possest of these writings by little better than a piece of theft; and in truth there may be good reasons for not communicating to one of the laity these papers, which contain such frightful memorials of ecclesiastical guilt.—I could not therefore attack the Abbess on the subject directly; but as in hopes of pacifying me for my disappointment she had proposed to relate such particulars respecting the Ladies of Sargans, as were most worthy of my attention, (an offer, which I at first rejected out of obstinacy, and through vexation at the denial of my request) I now summoned her to perform her promise, for the purpose of comparing what I should hear from her with the particulars contained in the stolen parchments.