true happiness at heart; she
will consider what a mind like his must hereafter suffer, should his
fondness for her be fatal to the best of mothers; she will urge, she
will oblige him to return, and make this step the condition of
preserving her tenderness.

Read this letter to her; and tell her, it is to her affection for my
brother, to her generosity, I trust for the life of a parent who is
dearer to me than my existence.

Tell her my heart is hers, that I will receive her as my guardian
angel, that we will never part, that we will be friends, that we will
be sisters, that I will omit nothing possible to make her happy with my
brother in England, and that I have very rational hopes it may be in
time accomplished; but that, if she marries him in Canada, and suffers
him to pursue his present design, she plants a dagger in the bosom of
her who gave him life.

I scarce know what I would say, my dear Bell; but I am wretched; I
have no hope but in you. Yet if Emily is all you represent her--

I am obliged to break off: my mother is here; she must not see this
letter.

Adieu! your affectionate
Lucy Temple.

LETTER 142.

To Mrs. Temple, Pall Mall.

Silleri, May 21.

Your letter of the 8th of April, my dear, was first read by Emily,
being one of the three I gave her for that purpose, as I before
mentioned.

She went through it, and melting into tears, left the room without
speaking a word: she has been writing this morning, and I fancy to you,
for she enquired when the mail set out for England, and seemed pleased
to hear it went to-day.

I am excessively shocked at your account of Mrs. Rivers: assure her,
in my name, of your brother's immediate return; I know both him and
Emily too well to believe they will sacrifice her to their own
happiness: there is nothing, on the contrary, they will not suffer
rather than even afflict her.

Do not, however, encourage an idea of ever breaking an attachment
like theirs; an attachment founded less in passion than in the
tenderest friendship, in a similarity of character, and a sympathy the
most perfect the world ever saw.

Let it be your business, my Lucy, to endeavor to make them happy,
and to remove the bars which prevent their union in England; and depend
on seeing them there the very moment their coming is possible.

From what I know of your brother, I suppose he will insist on
marrying Emily before he leaves Quebec; but, after your letter, whic