”My dear Patmore,—Forgive my
delay, occasioned by a cold settled on the lungs, and be sure that, although I
was ill, I deeply regretted your going away without seeing me. I would not have
permitted it on any account. Now for your note. The proposal is every way kind
and generous, and I shall always remember with pleasure that you have made it
in so friendly a spirit. But, in my particular case,
there is a fatal obstacle. Not in the house, nor in any
of the arrangements we might probably form, agreeably to your views, but in the
next house. Some members of that family we are very
intimate with still. With respect to others, the taking up our abode next door
would be an impossibility; and though years have passed,
| 242 | LAMAN BLANCHARD. |
