His days were troubled; his appetite was not what it should have been; he could not take the old thorough interest in his work.

It was becoming clear to him that the matter must be settled one way or another with brief delay.
One day at the end of September he received a letter addressed by Alice.
On opening it he found, with much surprise, that the contents were in his mother's writing.

It was so very rarely that Mrs.Mutimer took up that dangerous instrument, the pen, that something unusual must have led to her doing so at present.

And, indeed, the letter contained unexpected matter.

There were numerous errors of orthography, and the hand was not very legible; but Richard got at the sense quickly enough.
'I write this,' began Mrs.Mutimer, 'because it's a long time since you've been to see us, and because I want to say something that's better written than spoken.