Why it was sent to him he could not conjecture; and, without attempting to so do, at once plunged into its pages:-- * * * * * "CONTINENTAL HOTEL, PHILADELPHIA, JUNE 27, 1861 "MY DEAR LAURA:-- "I can readily understand with what astonishment you will read this letter, from the amazement I have experienced in collecting its details.
I will not weary you with any personal narration, but tell my tale at once.
"Miss Ercildoune, as you know, was my daughter's intimate at school,--a school, the admittance to which was of itself a guarantee of respectability.

Of course I knew nothing of her family, nor of her,--save as Clara wrote me of her beauty and her accomplishments, and, above all, of her style,--till I met Mrs.Lancaster.Of her it is needless for me to speak.

As you know, she is irreproachable, and her position is of the best.

Consequently when Clara wrote me that her friend was to come to New York to her aunt, and begged to entertain her for a while, I added my request to her entreaty, and Miss Ercildoune came.

Ill-fated visit! would it had never been made! "It is useless now to deny her gifts and graces.