Make haste back, my dear Hal. I cannot bear to keep my mother in
ignorance of our resolutions, and I am utterly at a loss in what manner to
communicate them so as to awaken the least reluctance. Oh, what would be
wanting to my felicity if my mother could be won over to my side? And is
so inestimable a good utterly hopeless? Come, my friend, and dictate such
a letter as may subdue those prejudices which, while they continue to
exist, will permit me to choose only among deplorable evils.

JANE TALBOT.




Letter X


_To Jane Talbot_

New York, October 13.

I have just heard something which has made me very uneasy. I am afraid
of seeming to you impertinent. You have declared your resolution to
persist in conduct which my judgment disapproved. I have argued with you
and admonished you, hitherto, in vain, and you have (tacitly indeed)
rejected my interference; yet I cannot forbear offering you my counsel
once more.

To say truth, it is not so much with a view to change your resolution,
that I now write, as to be informed what your resolution is. I have heard
what I cannot believe; yet, considering your former conduct, I have