Chapter XIII
Reading edition
[The Reverend Arthur Warrington writes in all haste to his Solicitor, Mr. James Frogg, of Serjeant’s Inn, Strand.]
St. Philip’s, Lowestoft, Feast of St. Alphonsus.
James Frogg, Esq.
Dear Mr. Frogg,—I am writing in much haste to inform you that my cousin, Henry Gastonard, has returned from Paris, and has had the effrontery to come here.
I trust I am not lacking in charity, nor harder than my fellows, but the life this young man has led in Paris makes him no fit companion for my wife, who, I regret to say, appears to have taken a fancy to him, and insists upon his remaining with us.
I write, therefore, to ask you if this will imperil in any way my hopes under the will of Martha’s uncle; are we doing right to have Henry here, and is there any possibility of the judges construing this as a consent upon my part to any division of the valuable property? Please inform me at once that I may convince Mrs. Warrington of her folly, and put an end to this foolish infatuation.—Dear Mr. Frogg, yours very faithfully,
Arthur Warrington.