"Early this morning--one of the saddest mornings I have ever seen--I went out to the village; and, upon inquiry, found that the constable and a _posse_ had gone out in one direction, while there was reason to believe that Colonel Davenport had gone in another; that is to say, down towards the bank of the river, so as to have the means at hand for either party to escape out of the State. I rode whither these hints directed me as fast as I could, though, God help me! I had no power or right to interfere. Had I possessed either, I was too late, however; for the matter was all finished and over, and the deed was done before I arrived in the meadow. "It is very sad to have to tell you that, of two dear friends, I found one dead, and the other almost in a state of distraction. Davenport had been killed at the first fire, and _Sir_ Richard Conway was nearly insane at the act which he had committed. Tearing his hair and wringing his hands, he sometimes walked up and down the field, and sometimes stopped to gaze upon the dead body, crying out that he had killed his best friend, his brother, the man he most esteemed on earth. In fact, he spoke very hard words of himself, but still harder of another, who shall be nameless, but whom he accused of having nursed up a jest into a quarrel, and a quarrel into a murder; and who, he said, had suppressed a letter offering every explanation on his part which an honourable man could give. "The man he spoke of was there upon the field present; but he kept out of his way, and being a near connection of yours, though I believe you are 'scarce cater-cousins,' I think it better not to allude to him more particularly, although all the people present, who were in numbers quite unbefitting the occasion, laid much blame to his charge, and I had some fear that violence would be shown to him. "Davenport was dead, and there was no help for it; but Conway's grief seemed to touch them much, and when a report spread that the justices were coming, they hurried your brother down as fast as possible to a boat which was in readiness, whether he would or no, and one of them got in with two sailors to steer him over to the eastern shore of Maryland. "I trust, my dear madam, that you will communicate these sad facts as gently as possible to her who has the deepest and the saddest interest in them, unless, indeed, Rumour, who has a thousand wings as well as a thousand tongues, has carried to her the tidings before this reaches you.