_Kingston, Jamaica._
I have received the message, sent me by Anselmo, my dear Clara, and my
joy at hearing of your welfare, made me forget for a moment, the many
causes you have given me of complaint. Yet what more have I learned
than that you exist? of all that concerns you I remain ignorant. Unkind
Clara! thus you repay my friendship! thus console me for all the
solicitude I have felt for you! To have staid with St. Louis, after
you left him, was not possible, for he did not conceal his suspicions
of my having been in your secret, nor could I find in Cuba an eligible
retreat; for all my friends were his, and all disposed to condemn you.
I accepted therefore, with pleasure, the offer made by Madame L----,
to take me with her to Jamaica.
Write to me, my dear sister, immediately. Tell me every thing. Does not
your heart require the affectionate sympathy it has been accustomed
to receive from mine? Can you live without me?--without me who have
followed you, and love you with an affection so tender? Dearest Clara,
speak, and I will fly to you! Means shall be found to return to
Philadelphia, where, in peaceful obscurity we may live, free from the
cares which have tormented you, and filled myself with anxiety.
Anselmo will be careful of your letter. Write fully, and remember that
you are writing to more than a sister; to a friend, who loves you, who
adores your virtues, and who pardons, while she weeps, your faults!