"I inclose bank notes for a hundred pounds so that, if you like, you
can stay for a few weeks or months in the colonies, and then take your
passage home from New York or Boston. By that time, too, all talk about
this affair with the smugglers will have ceased; but, as your name is
likely to come out at the trial of the men who were taken, so the
squire thinks it will be better for you to keep away, for a time."
The rest of the letter was filled up with an account of the excitement
and alarm which had been felt when he was first missed.
"We were glad, indeed," she said, "when a letter was received from
Richard Horton, saying that you were on board the Thetis. Mr. Wilks
tells me it was an abominably spiteful letter, and I am sure the squire
thinks so, too, from the tone in which he spoke this afternoon about
his nephew; but I can quite forgive him, for, if it had not been for
his letter, we should not have known what had become of you, and many
months might have passed before we might have heard from you in
America. As it is, only four or five days have been lost, and the
squire is writing tonight to obtain your discharge, which he assures me
there will be no difficulty whatever about."
The squire's was a very cordial letter, and he, too, enclosed notes for
a hundred pounds.
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