the first post to tell me you have got the letters
safely.
"Your loving aunt,
"JULIA BERTRAM."
The letter dropped from Roy's grasp, and he flung himself down on the beach face foremost.
Dudley sat staring out at the sea without speaking. The blow had fallen so heavily, and so unexpectedly, that speech was not forthcoming.
At last Roy looked up.
"You read the other letters to me, Dudley," he said, in a choked voice.
And Dudley, with a good deal of hesitation and effort interrupted by tears, read out as follows:
"DEAR MADAM: