_From Miss Cowley to Miss Hardcastle._
Be comforted, my dear girl. We are trying at the Abbey to forget you,
and to be contented with _every-day_ blessings. Mr. Hardcastle and
Mr. Sedley are now enjoying their holidays. And I hope that Mary’s
April face is exchanged for one which their kind greetings will render
cheerful. As you may both of you have some compunction hanging about
you, for having disturbed the tranquillity of Tarefield, I will inform
you, that fortune, liking Sir Murdoch’s holiday face better than that
of _Malvolio_, which, in the days of my folly, I wickedly gave him,
has by one of those freaks so common in her administration, produced a
letter, which has dissipated the gloom your absence caused, and he has
been laughing with me at the contents. Here followeth a copy for your
edification.