“St. Margaret’s,” Hampstead Heath.
“July 5, 1882.
“My dear Mrs. Hartland,—Thank you so much for your kind letter of this morning. I am so glad that our engagement is pleasing to you. I feel sure that it is the hand of God which has guided us both in this matter. My only regret is that dear John should have had such a weary waiting time. But I try to remember that he is in ‘Our Father’s’ care as well as I. I do most earnestly pray that I may be a help to him in the great and noble work he has undertaken: work in which I have so long wished to have a share, that I am almost afraid to realise that my heart’s desire is about to be fulfilled. I can only leave my joy where I have so often left my desires, at the feet of Him to whom all hearts are open, all desires known. I am hoping to go home on Saturday evening to spend the Sunday. If I am early enough I will try to look in on my way. If not, I shall be at chapel on Sunday morning and stay to communion there, when I shall hope to see some of you. I would propose coming down in the afternoon, but my own dear papa is so very unwell that I don’t think I could leave. With best love to you all,
“Believe me,
“Yours affectionately,
“Gwen Elen Thomas.”
“St. Margaret’s, Hampstead Heath,” from which this letter is dated, was the residence of Mr. and Mrs. May, in whose family Miss Thomas was acting as governess, having responsible charge of their young children. Her position was a singularly happy one. She was treated as a friend, and received the utmost Christian courtesy and kindness, of which she often speaks in her letters, with expressions of warm gratitude. Mr. and Mrs. May used to spend the winter in Spain, and during their absence Miss Thomas had the care of their children at Ramsgate. Consequently her opportunities of seeing Mrs. Hartland were only occasional, but her letters were frequent and affectionate. It is manifest that Mrs. Hartland had taken the woman of her son’s choice into her heart, and that Miss Thomas gladly accepted the spiritual hospitality.
She had kept John Hartland waiting a long time. A curious Nemesis ordained that she in her turn should be kept waiting. Having despatched the letter which is to abolish his anxieties and fill his heart with rapture, she naturally yearns to have the record of the rapture before her in black and white. Of course, she must wait for the mails; but the mails come and the record tarries. Shipwreck and minor mischances cause her hope to be deferred. Toward the end of September she writes plaintively to Miss Hartland: “It seems as if all this year has been taken up for me and John in waiting for letters.” Meanwhile her spare time is not occupied in idle dreaming. She has taken up the study of Portuguese, and writes out her Sunday-school lessons, finding this a more fruitful means of studying the Bible than reading merely. Moreover she thinks her MSS. “may come in handy by-and-by.” In October, by the irony of fate, she gets news of her sweetheart through other people’s letters, and ruefully writes to Mrs. Hartland: “John seems to have written to every one by this mail except to Mrs. Seymour and to me”; and goes on to say that she will be very glad when the suspense is over and she can look forward to getting her letters every month. The November mail brought peace.
“13, Wellington Crescent, Ramsgate.