that the charge of him would fall on your shoulders, and that it
would be a labor of love to you.

"If he lived, then, I felt you would not leave him, and that you
would be right in not doing so, but even then it seemed likely to
me that he would not grow up to manhood. From time to time I have
been in correspondence with the clergyman he was with, and learned
that the doctor who attended them thought but poorly of him. I had
him taken to two first class physicians in London; they pronounced
him to be constitutionally weak, and said that beyond strengthening
medicines and that sort of thing they could do nothing for him.

"Therefore, dear, it was no surprise to me when I received first
your mother's letter with the news, and then your own written a
few days later. When I answered that letter I thought it as well
not to say anything of my plan, but by the time you receive this,
it will be six months since your great loss, and you will be able
to look at it in a fairer light than you could have done then,
and I do hope you will agree to come out to me. Life here has its
advantages and disadvantages, but I think that, especially for
young people, it is a pleasant one.

"I am getting very tired of a bachelor's establishment, and it
will be a very great pleasure indeed to have you here. Ever since
I was in England I made up my mind to adopt you as my own child.
You are very like my brother John, and your letters and all I have
heard of you show that you have grown up just as he would have
wished you to do. Your sister Helena is your mother's child, and,
without wishing to hurt your feelings, your mother and I have nothing
in common. I regard you as the only relation I have in the world,