My noble and well warranted cousin.
—_Measure for Measure_, v, 1.
When a telegram arrived announcing that Lieutenant Adams accepted his
cousin’s invitation, Miss Esther was greatly pleased, and at once began
a pleasant flurry of preparation for his reception. A letter following
the next day told how exceedingly welcome her invitation had been, and
how it was necessary for him to leave Fort Monroe on sick leave for a
time. “Your letter,” he wrote, “could not have reached me at a time when
the prospect of a few weeks in the country was more attractive. In
working out on the ramparts where we have been taking down the old guns,
I slipped, and broke my leg. I had planned to go into the mountains of
Virginia. I have changed my plans. I am coming to you. All I want is
rest in a quiet place where my foolish leg can get well. I have already
telegraphed, and I may reach Whitfield on the same day with this letter,
for I am going north to-night. I can get about on crutches fairly well.
Thank you again for the inspiration which led you to ask me to come.”
Miss Esther was pleased rather than otherwise at her cousin’s
misfortune, for she was a born nurse and dearly loved to fuss over an
invalid, and, moreover, she could keep him longer and use him to better
advantage in the accomplishment of her fell project.
Miss Esther knew, however, that a broken leg did not necessarily affect
a man’s appetite, so she enjoyed stocking her larder with the lavishness
which always characterized her hospitality. It was in the midst of these
preparations that a letter arrived from Nashua.
NASHUA, N. H., June 24.