In behalf of the committee, I beg to tender thanks for your kind proposal.
"Yours respectfully, "PAULINE CLINTON." Fletcher read this letter with feelings which can better be imagined than described.

He had already written home in the most boastful manner about the invitation he had received, and he knew that before he could contradict it, it would have been generally reported by his gratified parents to his city friends.

And now he would be compelled to explain that he had been duped, besides enduring the jeers of those who had planned the trick.
This was more than he could endure.

He formed a sudden resolution.
He would feign illness, and go home the next day.

He could let it be inferred that it was sickness alone which had compelled him to give up the idea of appearing as a public reader.
Fitz immediately acted upon his decision, and the next day found him on the way to Boston.