Before the day on which I received the welcome intelligence was one hour
older, I had sat me down and penned a hurried sheet of ecstatic rapture
to my darling--the first number of our delightful little serial which
was going to be regularly issued every fortnight until further notice in
time for posting on mail days! I only just managed to catch the
European packet, so I could not write a very long letter on this
occasion--as I had also to answer the vicar's and Miss Pimpernell's
communications; but I said quite enough, I think, to let my darling
know, that, although she had not been able to hear from me directly
before, she had never been out of my thoughts.
You may be sure, too, that I did not forget to send a short note to Mrs
Clyde, thanking her for her kindness to us both. Indeed, I _was_
grateful to her; for serious consideration of my past conduct had led me
to think that she might have only judged wisely in her opinion as to
what was the best course to adopt for her daughter's future happiness.
Now, she had amply atoned for her former harshness, as I esteemed it, by
her permission for our correspondence; and, notwithstanding that she
never responded to my note, I regarded her thenceforth in the light of a
friend.
On reading over the vicar's letter after getting this happy business
concluded, I saw--what had escaped my notice at first--that he had not
been content with merely exerting his influence with Mrs Clyde for my
benefit. His good offices had gone much further. He had again spoken
for me to his patron, the bishop--who, you may recollect, was the means
of my getting that appointment to the Obstructor General's department;
and my old friend wrote that they had great hopes of being able to
procure me a nice little secretaryship under Government, which would
probably bring me in enough income to marry upon.--Only think!
What do you say to that, eh?
It was true, though; or the vicar would never have expressed himself so
confidently.
He added, that it was best for me to remain where I was in the
meanwhile, persevering in my resolution of living a steady life, and
that all might turn out well for me. He said, that my interests should
not be neglected in my absence; and, that there would be no use of my
returning until I got something certain.
His words, and this amicable settlement of matters between my darling
and myself, awoke a new life in me. I did not despair any longer. I
felt that God had at last heard not only my prayers, but also those of
her, who, I knew, was praying for me at home; and that, if He had not
appeared to grant my former petitions, the answer to them had been
withheld for the all-wise purpose of making me look to Him more
earnestly than I might have done, if prosperity had rewarded my first
effort! Before, I had trusted entirely to myself, never thinking of
appealing to His aid.
Now, I assure you, I could have struggled on to the death--even had
Fortune still gone against me even in America; but, the fickle goddess
alike altered her expression _there_, as circumstances improved for me
_here_, so that, I was not called upon to exercise any further endurance
in adversity.
My temporal troubles ended as my more serious difficulties disappeared--
all being in due accordance with the old adage which tells us that "it
never rains but it pours."
One morning, soon after hearing from England, as I was conning over the
advertisement columns of the _New York Herald_, I chanced on a notice
which immediately caught my eye. An "editor" was wanted, without delay,
at the office of one of the other leading-journals of the city, where
applications were requested from all desirous of taking the "situation
vacant." Who could this have reference to, but me?