Page:Ethel Churchill 2.pdf/287

Rh did he know the delicate and graceful handwriting; but he saw that the characters were tremulous, and it had obviously been written at different times. How much did it betray of the heart struggling for expression with bodily weakness! At first the page swam before him; but, with a strong effort, he at last read the contents.

,—Before you begin the following letter, I entreat your patient kindness if there be aught in its contents to grieve or to displease you. If you could know the relief that it is to me to write, you would, I know, forgive me. Before you read this letter, the child whom your affection has made so happy, will be cold in the grave. Read it, my beloved parent, as the expression of my latest wish on earth—the wish that will be next my heart when it ceases to beat. I know that I am dying; and but for your sake, my father, I could be glad to