They had not the heart to do it.

They read it to several persons, and eventually it fell into the hands of those ladies of whom I spoke a while ago.

The other day I came across an old friend of mine--a clergyman--who had seen this letter, and was full of it.

The mere remembrance of it so moved him that he could not talk of it without his voice breaking.

He promised to get a copy of it for me; and here it is -- an exact copy, with all the imperfections of the original preserved.