to come and see _me_. You _must_ come.
I will take no denial, for I want you to rejoice at my wedding! Yes,
as old Nell once said to me, `God sends us a blessing sometimes when
we least expect it.' He has not only restored to me my mother, but
has raised me from the lowest rung in the ladder to the very highest,
and given me the sweetest, and most--. But enough. Come and see for
yourself. Her name is Nellie. But I have more to astonish you with.
Not only do I take Nellie back with me to my home in the new world,
but I take my mother also, and Natty Grove, and _old Nell herself_!
How we got her to understand what we want her to do, could not be told
in less than four hundred pages of small type. Nat did it, by means
of signs, symbols, and what _he_ styles facial-logarithms. At all
events she has agreed to go, and we hope to set sail next June.
Moreover, I expect to get _you_ to join us. Don't laugh. I mean it.
There is good work to be done. Canada needs philanthropic Christians
as well as England.

"You will scarcely credit me when I say that I have become a
match-maker--not one of those `little' ones, in whose welfare you are
so much interested, but a real one. My deep design is upon your
partner, Natty Grove. Yes, your _partner_--for were not _you_ the
instrument used in rescuing my soul, and _he_ my body? so that you
have been partners in this double rescue. Well, it is my intention to
introduce Natty Grove to Nancy Briggs, and abide the result! Once on
a time I had meant her for Bob Snobbins, but as you have failed to
hunt him up, he must be left to suffer the consequences. D'you know I
have quite a pathetic feeling of tenderness for the memory of that too
sharp little boy. Little does he know how gladly I would give him the
best coat in my possession--if I could only find him!

"Now, dearest of old friends, I must stop. Nellie is sitting on one
side of me, mother on the other, and old Nell in front--which will
account to you, in some degree, for the madness of my condition.

"Once more, in the hope of a joyful meeting, I wish you `a merry
Christmas and a happy New Year.'"

THE END.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Coxswain's Bride, by R.M. Ballantyne

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