It was written on a Monday, and Halbert, Jim, and Sam started back to Garoopna the next day, rather a memorable day for Sam, as you will see directly.

Now I wish to call attention to the fact, that Sam, far from being invited, is never once mentioned in the whole letter.

Therefore what does Miss Burke mean by her audacious calumnies?
What does she mean by saying that Alice made love to Sam, and never gave the "poor boy" a chance of escape?
Can she, Lesbia, put her hand on her heart and say that she wasn't dying to marry Sam herself, though she was (and is still, very likely) thirty years his senior?
The fact is, Lesbia gave herself the airs, and received the privileges of being the handsomest woman in those parts, till Alice came, and put her nose out of joint, for which she never forgave her.
However, to return to this letter.

I wonder now, as I am looking at the age-stained paper and faded writing, whether she who wrote it contemplated the possibility of its meeting Sam's eye.

I rather imagine that she did, from her provoking silence about him.