The Letter
Phiz (Hablot K. Browne)
1863
Illustration for Charles Lever's Barrington (Chapter 40, p. 3)
"Josephine hung down her head, and with her hands firmly clasped together, she sat for a few moments so motionless that she seemed scarcely to breathe" (37). The shamefaced confusion obvious from Josephine's posture and downcast gaze have been occasioned by Dinah's revealing that a letter containing a proposal has arrived. We are left to imagine Josephine's "trepidation and bewilderment" when she learns that the letter comes not from Conyers but from Stapylton. Note: Josephine's reference to her amusement at Major Dalgetty (p. 37) in Scott's The Legend of Montrose points to the origin of such characters as Major M'Cormick and Dr. Dill in this novel and definitively dates the action at this point to the latter part of 8