A. J.
London, August 7, 1850.
Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington presents His Compliments to Miss J. He is much concerned at her answer and that he has given her Offence, however unintentionally! The Duke may have been mistaken! But it certainly appeared to him that the Money lent upon Mortgage; of which the Interest was in arrears of a year, and paid very irregularly might with advantage have been called in and the rest of the Sum might with advantage have been applied to defray the expenses attending Miss J.'s illness! More particularly as Miss J. was unwilling to adopt any of the modes suggested by which pecuniary assistance might have been sent her!
The Duke assures her that he is not disposed to expose her to any thing inconvenient by desiring that she should sign any papers!
He was anxious that she should receive the pecuniary assistance which might be useful or necessary to Her in the manner least tiresome to Herself and least likely to occasion the inquiries of busy and impertinent curiosity!
However Miss J. may rely upon it that he will not interrupt her repose excepting in consequence of her own expressed desire!
One fancies a mocking tone in the last sentence of the Duke's letter, as though he surmised Miss J.'s silence would not be of long duration. He did not reckon without his host. Miss J. held her peace for three weeks. Then, seeing by the "Times" that the Right Hon. Charles Arbuthnot had died suddenly at the house of the Duke of Wellington, she wrote a letter of condolence which in its expressions of deep sympathy and its religious consolations would not have been out of place if indited upon the death of the Duke's nearest of kin. [ ][Endnote 12] ] To this effusion the Duke sent no answer. Nothing daunted, Miss J. only waited for an excuse to write again. This she soon found in a newspaper paragraph stating that the Duke had been thrown from his carriage. Her letter and the Duke's reply follow:
Sept. 16, 1850.
My Lord Duke,—Notwithstanding my changed feelings I am deeply concerned to hear of your late accident, and still more deeply grateful to Almighty God for your preservation. I sincerely hope that such gracious interposition of Providence in your favor may eventually lead you to glorify Him in your life and conversation accordingly, 'seeking Him while HE may be found, and calling upon Him while HE is near," ever bearing in mind that HE is "no respecter of persons." Consequently none but those who through His Grace have undergone "a new birth unto righteousness," can justifiably expect to enter into His Kingdom. That HE may enable you to understand this experimentally is the earnest wish of
His devoted Child and Servant,