Page 284 - The snake's pass

272 THE snake's pass.
since you went ; they are always together, and Moy-
nahan seems to be always drunk. Father thinks that
Mr. Murdock has some purpose on foot, and that it
cannot be a good one. We shall all be glad to see
you soon again. I am afraid this letter must seem
very odd to you; but you know I am not accustomed
to writing letters. You must believe one thing—that
whatever I say to you, I feel and believe with all my
heart. I got your letters, and I cannot tell you what
pleasure they gave me, or how I treasure them.
Father sends his love and duty. What could I send
that words could carry ? I may not try yet. Perhaps I
shall be more able to do what I wish, when I know more.
" Noeah."
The letter disappointed me ! Was any young man
ever yet satisfied with written words, when his medium
had hitherto been rosy lips, with the added commen-
tary of loving eyes ? And yet when I look back on
that letter from a peasant girl, without high education
or knowledge of the world, and who had possibly never
written a letter before except to her father or brother,
or a girl friend, and but few even of these—when I
read in every word its simplicity and truth, and recog-
nise the arriere pensee of that simple phrase, " what-
ever I say to you I feel and think with all my
heart," I find it hard to think that any other letter
that she or anyone else could have written, could have
been more suitable, or could have meant more.