Then, one morning, she found a letter on the breakfast table. She did
not recognise the handwriting; when she opened it and saw the signature
at the end for a moment she also did not recognise that. "William
Magnus." ... Then--why, of course! Mr. Magnus! She saw him standing
looking down at her with his mild eyes, staring through his large
spectacles.
Her heart beat furiously. She waited until breakfast was over, then she
took it up to her bedroom.
The letter was as follows:
Dear Miss Maggie,
I know you are not "Miss Maggie" now, but that is the only way that I
can think of you. I expect that you have quite forgotten me, and
perhaps you don't want to hear from me, but I must not lose sight of
you altogether. I haven't so many friends that I can lose one without a
word. I don't know quite what to begin by telling you. I ought to ask
you questions about yourself, I suppose, but I know that your aunts
hear from you from time to time and they give me news from your
letters. I hear that you are happily married and are quite settled down
to your new life. I'm very glad to hear that, although it isn't quite
the life that I would have prophesied for you. Do you like Skeaton?
I've never cared much for seaside resorts myself, but then I'm a queer
cranky old man, and I deserve all I get. I wish I could tell you
something cheerful about all your friends here, but I'm afraid I can't.
Your aunt is so brave and plucky that probably she said nothing to you
in her last letter about how ill she has been, but she's just had a
very bad bout, and at one time we were afraid that we were going to
lose her. You can imagine how anxious we all were. But she is better
again now, although very much shattered. The Chapel is closed. There's
a piece of news for you! It never recovered from poor Warlock's death;
he was the spirit that gave it life, and although he may have had his
dreams and imaginations that deceived him, there was some life in that
building that I have never found anywhere else and shall never find
again. You remember that Amy Warlock married that scamp Thurston. Well,
she has left him and has come back to live with her mother. She had a
rather bad experience, I'm afraid, poor woman, but she says nothing to
any one about it. She and the old lady have moved from this part of
London and have gone to live somewhere in Kensington. Some one saw
Martin Warlock in Paris the other day. I hear that he has been very
seriously ill and is greatly changed, looking years older. I can say,
now that you are happily married, that I am greatly relieved that you
were not engaged to him. You won't think this presumptuous of a man old
enough to be your father, will you? I am sure he had many good things
in him, but he was very weak and not fitted to look after you. But he
had a good heart, I'm sure, and his father's death was a great shock to
him. Thurston, I hear, is having revival meetings up and down the
country. Miss Avies, I believe, is with him. You remember Miss
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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