"Yes, I'll delay no longer. I must answer Lizzie's letter and tell
her all. My duties for the coming week will be pressing, allowing me
no opportunity for writing, equal to that of the present."

Then she wrote: "QUEEN CITY, January 20, 185-.

"MY OWN CHERISHED FRIEND: To-night from my casement I looked out
upon the cold, bright world, wrapped in moonlight, and as I gazed at
the far-off misty horizon, the distance called to mind my far-off
friend at Melrose--recalled to mind, too, the fact that your last
welcome letter has for an unwonted length of time remained
unanswered. Your letter that came on the new year, came as the
flowers of spring, always fresh and beautiful. It has been neglected
from the inevitable press of circumstances by which I have been
surrounded, which neglect, I feel assured, you will appreciate and
forgive, when I have detailed the following facts.

"My sister Sarah is to be married in a week. This approaching event
has been the cause of my restricted time, pressing out of sight, and
even out of memory, all letter-writing.

"Yes, dear Lizzie, the long-expected nuptials are actually about to
be celebrated, and all our household, except myself, are in a fever
of excitement and delight.

"My step-mother is ecstatic over the success of her scheming, and
even condescends to be kind to me,-to me, Lizzie, whom she has so
long and so faithfully despised.

"My father, too, seems happy over this alliance, knowing Mark's