He took it up to his room, and had a considerable debate with himself as to whether he would open it or not.

The question was, What did the boy say?
If he wrote full of bitter complaints as to his treatment, the receipt of the letter by his wife would only make matters worse, and in that case it would be better to destroy the letter as well as any others which might follow it, and so put an end to all communication, for it was unlikely that the boy would ever return to England.
Accordingly he opened the letter, and after reading it through, laid it down with a feeling of something like relief.

It was written in a cheerful spirit.

Jack began by saying that he feared Dame Anthony and Alice would have been anxious when they heard that he was missing from his lodgings.
"I have no doubt, my dear cousin, you will have guessed what has befallen me, seeing that so many have been taken away in the same way.

I don't think that my late master acted handsomely in thus getting rid of me; for, as the list was made up by him, it was of course his doing.