O Belford! what a hair’s-breadth escape have I had!—Such a one, that I
tremble between terror and joy, at the thought of what might have
happened, and did not.
What a perverse girl is this, to contend with her fate; yet has reason
to think, that her very stars fight against her! I am the luckiest of
me!—But my breath almost fails me, when I reflect upon what a slender
thread my destiny hung.
But not to keep thee in suspense; I have, within this half-hour,
obtained possession of the expected letter from Miss Howe—and by such
an accident! But here, with the former, I dispatch this; thy messenger
waiting.