Harriet F. Randolph to Mary J. Randolph
When I received your note my dearest life, my heart reproached me for the omission of which you spoke, but believe me it was entirely accidental & occasioned I sup now suppose by the haste in which I wrote, & the frequent twinges of the Col. which made my note so brief & so illegible—I love you tenderly my own dear girl, & as much now as at any former period– & I dare answer for my heart that the affection with which it glows towards you is as unchangeable as it is sincere. I wished to write you a long note instead of this hasty scrawl, but an old debt to Virginia gives her a prior claim upon my time– & “existing circumstances” (to quote from Cousin Ann—but I forget whether I ever told you on what occasion she said so) obliges me to be expeditious.—I wish indeed my dear Mary that you had been with us last week for H took up her abode (books ‘inclusion’ in my room, & until Miss W’s arrival we carried on our studies together as regularly & happily as in days of auld lang syne, & I need not say how much our pleasure would have been increased by having you with us—when will you make us your promised visit my dear? it has been so long deferred to an indefinite period that I begin to fear you will forget to make it at all—I must bid you adieu my love, as space enough for the direction must be left—affectionately your friend & sister
