He wrote
just before leaving England, and once from the Crimae; but
this last letter elicited an icy response from the Superior,
to the effect generally that her niece being now under her
care, and receiving the education that would fit her for the
life that would be hers for the future, she wished all old
connections and associations to be broken off; in short, that
it would be useless for Graham to write any more letters, as
Madelon would not be allowed to see them. Graham received this
letter at Balaklava, at the end of a long day's work, and
laughed out loud as he read the stiff, formal little epistle,
which, to the young man in the midst of the whirl and bustle
of camps and hospitals, seemed like a voice from another
world; there was something too ludicrous in the notion of a
child of eleven years old being forbidden to receive letters,
because she might possibly be a nun nine or ten years hence.
"As for that, we'll see about it by-and-by, old lady," he said
to himself, "but in the meantime there is no use in writing
letters that are not to be delivered;" and then he thrust
Mademoiselle Linders' letter into his pocket, and thought no
more about it.
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