Letter from Margaret Emily Gaskell, Manchester, to Mrs. Field, 1887 March 14 : autograph manuscript signed.

Expressing her love for Mr. and Mrs. Field; saying "Your letter has reached us just as the post is going, and we have only a moment to write to you in. If we could but tell you how intensely we feel for you, and how we love you both! We do love you most faithfully - and most gratefully. We are so thankful that darling Mr. Field's illness is taking such a course that it seems likely that the end may not be so terribly painful as you feared. This will spare you, as well as him, so very much. To watch suffering is so awful. I believe so firmly, so absolutely, in the future Life, in a reunion of those who have loved one another in this life, that I feel with my whole soul that when the parting comes between you two, that agonizing as it will be, it will be only for a short time - and that there will be an Eternal Future for you both to share, in the Presence of God our Father, and of Christ. Give our most dear Mr. Field our very tenderest love, if he can still hear that we send it him - & with deepest, intensest sympathy to you, I am your very truly loving / M.E. Gaskell."