I had planned to reserve my thanks for the books and the candy
until you called for dinner to-morrow. Now, I have decided that
it will be better for you not to come to dinner to-morrow,
although this decision has not been made without father and me
being sensible of a keen feeling of disappointment. We had
planned to sacrifice an old hen that has outlived her margin of
profit, hoping that, with the admixture of a pinch of saleratus,
she would prove tender enough to tempt the appetite of a
lumberjack, but, upon sober second thought, it seems the part of
wisdom to let her live.
We honor and respect you, Donald. You are so very dear to us that
we wish to cherish always your good opinion of us; we want
everybody in Port Agnew to think of you as we do. People will
misunderstand and misconstrue your loyalty to the old friends of
your boyhood if you dare admit your friendship. Indeed, some have
already done so. I thank you for the books and the candy, but
with all my heart I am grateful to you for a gift infinitely more
precious but which is too valuable for me to accept. I shall have
to treasure it at a distance. Sometimes, at colors, you might
wave to
Your old friend,