"EVER DEAR LOTTA,--Gustave and I have discussed the Haygarth business
with great satisfaction to ourselves, since it transpired in the course
of our conversation that we are both of one mind in the matter. It is
agreed between us that, as he is very well off already, and as he never
hoped or expected to inherit a fortune from his maternal ancestor, it is
only just that he should divide this unlooked-for wealth with his dear
cousin, whose claim to that inheritance he recognizes as equal to his
own; the mere fact of seniority making only a legal and not a moral
difference in the degree of relationship to the Reverend John Haygarth.
Do you understand, darling?--_you_ are to have half this money. My
husband will not step in between you and good fortune. I cannot tell you
how happy this determination of Gustave's has made me. I felt myself in a
manner base and ungrateful when I thought I was to share wealth that
might have been yours; but I ought to have better understood the justice
of my husband's mind. And now, dearest, all will be arranged very simply;
Gustave will come to London and see his lawyers, and execute some kind of
deed, and the whole affair will be settled.
"We have had some charming drive," &c. &c.
Here the young wife branched off into a description of the simple
pleasures of their honeymoon holiday.
This letter was answered by Valentine Hawkehurst in person.
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