284 LETTER FROM REUBEN. 
steady myself in an upright posture for a minute 
at a time, still, as dear Mrs. Ancrum kindly 
offered to enclose for me a few lines to you, if I 
can possibly contrive to have them ready, I must 
endeavour not to lose so favourable an oppor- 
tunity, however little I may be able to say. 
" On taking a last farewell of you, and our 
other dear friends of the Portland, I little thoi^ht 
that the first letter you were to receive from me, 
after your arrival in England, was to inform you 
of the total dissolution of all my earthly plans 
and hopes, shattered as with an arrow from 
heaven, and leaving every expectation enter- 
tained for myself and Francis scattered to the 
winds. Yet I trust I can from my heart say, 'It 
is the Lord, let him do what seemeth Him good.' 
He will undoubtedly make all things work toge- 
ther for our good, and for the glory of His name. 
" Very likely Mrs. Ancrum has mentioned 
something respecting the circumstances which 
brought about the sudden change in our hopes 
and expectations. The narrative is very simple. 1 
It was on the 31st of last month. Everything 
with respect to myself and Francis was going 
on much the same as when you left. He was ! 
still pursuing his studies; and my duties at) 
Mr. Miller's were daily growing more respon-J 
sible. I had for about two weeks been troubled 
with rather a bad cold ; and the morning of the 
day above-mentioned being very damp, while 
at my work (writing), my cough became some- 
what more violent ; when, suddenly, and without 
any warning, an immense discharge of blood 
from my chest, which nearly choked me ? soon 
