Jenny burst into tears, and as she did not persist in her claim my heart was moved, and I gave her ten shillings, but told her _pretty plainly_ that if she ever made such a claim again I should go to the police.

You should have heard Bridget defending you! _Such_ a champion.

If you want a witness to character for your references you should call _her_! She is loud in your praise.
_October_ 22.
There is one thing I want to tell you; and it is easier to write it than say it.

Your mother did not die when you were three years old--much worse: she left me--ran away with an engineer who was tracing out the branch railway.

He seemed a nice young fellow and I had him often up at the Vicarage, and _that_ was the way he repaid my hospitality! He wrote to me a year afterwards asking me to divorce her.