Lewie; Or, The Bended TwigBradford, Sarah H. (Sarah Hopkins)
General
Lewie; Or, The Bended Twig
Bradford, Sarah H. (Sarah Hopkins)
Fiction
“She is evidently very unhappy,” said Mr. Wharton, “and perhaps her
funds are exhausted. She must return to us, and for this purpose I will
send her the means without delay.”
But still Miss Edwards did not come, and her letters were few and far
between. At length there came one written in much better spirits, and
in her old cheerful style, in which she informed them that she was
engaged to be married to a young physician of that place. She seemed
now very happy, and full of bright anticipations, not the least
cheering of which, was the prospect of visiting her kind friends once
more, when she should travel to the east on her bridal tour. And this
was the last letter they ever received from Miss Edwards.
That same summer a package came to Mr. Wharton, directed in an unknown
hand, from a place, the name of which he had never heard before. It was
from a physician, and ran thus:
SIR,—I was called a few weeks since to attend a young lady, who was
lying dangerously ill, at the only tavern in our little village. I
found her raving in delirium, and your name, and the names of many whom
I suppose to be members of your family, were constantly mingled with
her ravings. She had stopped at the tavern the night before in the
stage; and when the other passengers went on was too ill to proceed
with them. I attended her constantly for a week or ten days, and at the
end of that time, I had the happiness to find that her fever had
entirely left her, and her mind was quite restored. She was, however,
extremely weak, and feeling assured, she said, that she should never be
able to reach the home of her kind friends, (mentioning the name of
your family,) she begged earnestly for writing materials, and though I
remonstrated and entreated, I found it impossible to prevent her
writing. She said she had a communication which it was due to you that
she should make, and she charged me over and over again, to remember
your direction, and send the package to you in case she did not leave
that place alive. She was busily engaged in writing one day, when the
noise of wheels attracted her to the window, which she reached in time
to see a gentleman alight from a chaise, who proceeded to hand out a
lady. A person in the room with her, saw her put her hands to her head,
and then she rushed from the back door of the house, and did not stop
till she reached the woods. When found she was a raving maniac, and is
so still. We have been obliged to place her in the county house, where
she is confined in the apartment devoted to Lunatics, and is as
comfortable as she can be made under the circumstances. The
accompanying package I found just as she left it, when she dropped her
pen and hastened to the window, and I now comply with her earnest
request and enclose it to you.
With respect, &c.
JAMES MASTEN.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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