Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1838-04-05
CArHARrNE McTNaes,
OR THE WRONG LETTER BOX

Office. We sometimes tind three or four
letters in our own letter bux, Intended for
the mails. These We, vi couise, put on
their way.
Standing nnce nj our fatnt window, we
observed y"nmg wonaII, @kn,e face WAS
not visiGlc TO uS, drop lrtieriHtoonr bax,
aud ON taking it out. we fonutldl,at size had
mistaken oar eS,an. shMent t..r thai af The
Post Office. Ii was direc,.4! ID Thomas
-, in Ireland, aud The inhtnd postage
accompanied it. Tile lcties We caused 10
be sent with some Others nll.e Post Office,
and gave the CIRCUMSTANCES no further
thought.
Bhsied'a few months aaterwsis9l 10 SKA, M
ming our exchange lHIScrs, aud isfdi51ng
such paragraphs as they suggested tous,
we did nat pay much attention 10 i gentle
tap at the door OF oar private IOolii, unlilii
was repeated. We then were too anxious
TO conclude our labors TO open to the apple
cant, babe the one that knocked come To-
aud continued our laburs without lifting an
eye TO the door, which was opened quietly
aud quietly cloSed. We were startled at
length with sweetly modula,ed voice in-
curing us there a letter here for me 2
We at once raised our eyes, aud saw a
female about eighteen years of aee--nr, as
we have oflate tosi the art ofjudgng closc-
" IN these nlaliers, pc, hpps t,ocNty. II did
not make "a dimple's difference 10 her face.
aud would not Eve more years had been
added to them. There was an oval face;
With natures own blush, aud n Sigh, pro-
jection Of the mouth that i"ld Of ireland.
even without the softened meditation OF
| voice that belongs to the women Of that
island. Neatness was all that could be
ascribcd to her dress-it deserved that.
Letters are frequently asked for in
newspaper office, in reply To advertise
| nien,s-so we babe the young woman go
10 the front Office and inquire Of The clerks.
She bad been there, and there was no
one but IA boy, aWho could no, give her the
information. So We inquired her name.
Kitty McInnes but perhaps i, will be
CGtharinc on the letter. said she, as that
is my name
We looked on tho letter rack in The
front Office. among the A. B.'s,' tlle* x.
WIS., the p. Q.'s,' &c. but saw none for
Cailsarinc.
Returning. we inquired TO what advcr-
tisemenl the letter was to be an answer.
Advertisement! totno advertisements
it would be an answer To my letter.
And from whom did you expect q slct-
Ter z ......-..-. $500 q
The yonng woman looked much con-
fused-6u, apparently surprising the ques-
lion pertinent. size said, from Thomas
-.
We saw at once that she had, rs hun
dreds before had done, mistaken our Office
for the Post Office, and the name given
was that upon The letter which we had some
months before sent from our letter box to
that 81 the Post Office.
He has not written, then, said Caiha-
rine, in low voice, evidently not intended
for our car.
Bu'-he may have written
Then where's she letter 2 said she,
looking up.
"A, the Post Office. perhaps
Aud we took Ca,l,arine by tho hand and
led her to the door, and pointed out. the
way to the Post Office.
You will ask at the window said we
but as the clerks are young men, you need
not tell them from whom you expect The
letter.
Not Cor the world said she, looking in.
to our face with glance that seemed to
say there was no harm in iellingus.
i We must have used less than our usual
precision in directing Cafharine to the
Post Office, as quite half an hour AFTER
wards, when visiting the place, we saw her
at the window, receiving the change and "a
| II a, a1x,eI, a.
patience, shall we say Of woman or of love,
induced Catllarine 10 break The seal at The
door. A glow Of pleasure was ON the
cheek Of The happy girl. We would not
have given penny 10 be informed that
Thomas was well, aud was coming the mex,
packet. We felt anxious TO know whether
Thomas would come, but the iames ofsuch
persons rarely appear among the passen-
gers Of the Liverpool packet, being com-
monty included 10 that comprehensive line,
land two hundred in the sieerage.'
So we gave up all hopes Of knowing
when Thomas would arrive, but concluded
that we would see the name with that Of
Cs,harinc in the marriage list, to which we
had determined 10 keep steady look.
Ii was bot short time afterwards iha,
we did indeed see the name Of Thomas in
tho papers. He was one Of the passengers
in the ship cast away below New York, of
whom nearly every soul persisted. and
Thomas among the rest.
We had never seen Thomas, but had
somehow cherished such an interest in his
fate, tl,a, we felt severe shock al its an
nunciation-and what must have been the
feelings Of Calharin", with her ardent, sau-
puiur Irish temperamentl Having dacN.