"After waiting all day yesterday, desirous to resume my pen, yet unable to do so through conflicting feelings, I deferred it until to day, hoping to make a commencement to the details and complete it by degrees as my strength may admit. First of all, I thank you for your prompt reply to my last, which becomes my encouragement for thus intruding upon you particulars to which nothing but the most absolute necessity could ever have reconciled me....
"I resume my pen after a brief interval to tell you that a remark made in one of your letters after my dear Mrs. L.'s death,—namely, 'I do not know your circumstances,' combined with the remembrance of your never to be forgotten kindness in once affectionately exclaiming 'My Child!'—unite in encouraging me to think that you have but to know them (the circumstances,) in order to take such into due consideration and act thereon accordingly. O that God may enable me to relate and you, My dearest Duke, to receive the relation in whatever way is most agreeable to His unerring will! And may any and every valued attention extended to me be regarded by Him in the light which is calculated to call down upon your precious head eventually the consequences springing from those blessed words. 'Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these My children, ye have done it unto ME.' 'Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!'
"When I had arrived thus far I was too much affected to proceed and was relieved by a burst of tears,—for who among all your earthly friends will feel half so rejoiced at your being so distinguished by the Great 'Lord of Lords' as one who has loved you so disinterestedly and devotedly? But since my own feelings as well as your wishes require brevity I must proceed.
"At my beloved Mother's death, a Deed of Gift entitled me to a small Income which afterwards for my advantage was placed on a Mortgage by my Trustees, but which through a dreadful fire proved the reverse eventually, as I have found since my poor Guardian's death that the expenses or losses deriving therefrom were deducted from the principal of the Property. This leaves me, consequently, when again sold into the Funds, entitled to an Income quite inadequate to my support, although hoping that some landed Property would sell advantageously and become compensation for the same. My Sister felt most anxious that at such a time as this I should have every advantage, my life depending upon nourishment and support. She therefore wrote to make enquiries concerning the sale of the Property, when to our disappointment a letter arrived showing that neither my sister or self were entitled to any portion thereof, it having been at a later period made over to the younger branches of the family. Consequently all her fondest wishes to render me through such means all that aid which her affectionate heart could desire have been hereby frustrated, leaving her in the greatest distress of mind at the thought of being obliged to quit me thus situated, namely, with two wounds arising from the blow and another about to break. These occasion a drain on my constitution which threatens to take away all my strength, reducing my frame accordingly.
"The Medical Gentlemen impress upon my dear Sister the idea that I must die if I do not receive sufficient nourishment to supply the loss such occasion. These produce the most violent and continued perspirations, requiring the most strengthening things, namely, jellies, wines, soups, etc., etc., as they say it is a complete battle between the disease and the constitution. Which will conquer remains for Time to prove. Dr. P. further tells her that I may go on thus for three years and yet recover if great care is taken of me, as the lump since it has broken is considerably smaller. It is hoped that the linseed poultices will eventually draw it entirely away if my strength can only cope therewith. He also says that I ought to have a Nurse with me by night as well as by day, continually, as I am much too exhausted and debilitated to be left alone. This expense would in itself be more than the whole of my Income is adequate to defray. Consequently, it would appear that it is the will of God to place my life humanly speaking, in your hands, as the friend, next to Himself most dear to the heart of—
"Yours Devotedly,
"A. J."
The Duke's reply was energetic and to the point:—
London, July 12th, 1850.
My dear Miss J.,—I have just now received from you a letter dated July 11th written upon four sides of letter paper, and I am concerned to learn, after a most difficult Perusal thereof that your Health is still in a bad and precarious state! and your pecuniary affairs very much deranged! You had never before mentioned this last to me! You frequently named to me in your letters Your Guardian and your receipt through his hands of your Dividends, and I therefore concluded that your worldly affairs were well managed, while your Mind was occupied by reflecting on the future! But I have seldom read of such a state of pecuniary affairs as that you give in the letter which I have at last been able to read and to which I am endeavoring to write an answer!