I ventured to tell her my whole heart, and instead of obscure and ambiguous answers, which some would have given to tantalize and pain one, she frankly, but modestly and timidly, told me it was mutual.

Suffice it to say we are _engaged_.
If I know my parents I know they will be pleased with this amiable girl.
Unless I was confident of it, I should never have been so hasty.

I have not yet mentioned it to her parents; she requested me to defer it till next summer, or till I see her again, lest she should be thought hasty.
She is but sixteen and is willing to wait two or three years if it is for our mutual interest.
Never, never was a human being so blest as I am, and yet what an ungrateful wretch I have been.

Pray for me that I may have a grateful heart, for I deserve nothing but adversity, and yet have the most unbounded prosperity.
The father replies to this characteristic letter on September 4, 1816:-- "I have just received yours of the 2d inst.

Its contents were deeply interesting to us, as you will readily suppose.