A letter I received from Grace in care of Mrs. Eva Heinrich.
Mrs. Prury’s School for Girls
Camden, Maine
April 16, 1859
Dear Hannah,
Here are as many words I know that get at the heart of this place I am held in.
Dejected. Deleterious. Depressing. Despondent. Disagreeable. Dismal. Dratted. Dread.
And those are just a couple of D’s, presented in good alphabetical order. Synonyms, I’ve lately learned from a lesson I left not two hours past. They are far too many classes here. Far too few of girls like you.
I’ve thought of you often since leaving the Island and wonder where you’ve got off to. Most important, however, is that you are safe and in a place that suits you better.
Here is something that I wrote that attempts to answer many questions. For one, Mr. Hardy. Is he still in the dark as to the widow’s whereabouts? Doesn’t he need her after all? Can we really believe that he’d give up so quickly?
That lighthouse keeper, for another. Mightn’t he have grown a heart? And decided to buck Mrs. Reeves, his conspirator? For might Mrs. Reeves have exceeded her bounds and estranged in the process her most faithful friend, allying him with Mr. Hardy? Why, even scheming lighthouse keepers must possess a sort of heart.
I think you will find the below satisfactory to the task of addressing some of these. And if you yourself feel inclined to contribute, I’ll insist that you do in the form of Act II.