LETTER I. OF LESLIE CASEL. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox .org. Trimata Spirone. Jane Austen. Read by Michelle Purdy. Henry Thomas Austen. Read by Jake Milizia. Margaret Leslie. Read by Michelle Eaton. Charlotte Luttrell. Read by Kelly Taylor. Susan Leslie. Read by Magda Wild. Eloisa Luttrell. Read by Amitola Torques. Mrs. Marlowe. Read by Joanna Michael Hoyt. William Fitzgerald. Read by David Purdy. Mr. Leslie. Read by Thomas Peter. Leslie Castle. An Unfinished Novel in Letters. To Henry Thomas Austen Esquire. Sir, I am now availing myself of the liberty you have frequently honored me with of dedicating one of my novels to you. That it is unfinished, I grieve, yet fear that from me it will always remain so. That as far as it is carried, it should be so trifling and so unworthy of you is another concern to your obliged humble servant. The author. Messrs. Demand & Co. Pleased to pay Jane Austen Spinster the sum of 100 guineas on account of your humble servant. H .T. Austen. Leslie Castle. Letter the first is from Miss Margaret Leslie to Miss Charlotte. Luttrell. Leslie Castle January the 3rd 1792. My brother has just left us. Matilda. Said he at parting. You and Margaret will, I am certain, take all the care of my dear little one that she might have received from an indulgent and affectionate and amiable mother. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he spoke these words. The remembrance of her, who had so wantonly disgraced the maternal character and so openly violated the conjugal duties, prevented his adding anything farther. He embraced his sweet child and after saluting Matilda and me hastily broke from us and seating himself in his chaise, pursued the road to Aberdeen. Never was there a better young man. Ah, how little did he deserve the misfortunes he has experienced in the marriage state. So good a husband to so bad a wife. For you know, my dear Charlotte, that the worthless Louisa left him, her child and reputation a few weeks ago in company with Danvers and Dishonour. Never was there a sweeter face, a finer form or a less amiable heart than Louisa owned. Her child already possesses the personal charms of her unhappy mother. May she inherit from her father all his mental ones. Leslie is at present but five and twenty and has already given himself up to melancholy and despair. What a difference between him and his father. Sir George is fifty -seven and still remains the beau. The flighty stripling, the gay lad, the sprightly youngster that his son was really about five years back and that he is affected to appear ever since my remembrance. While our father is fluttering about the streets of London, gay, dissipated and thoughtless at the age of fifty -seven, Matilda and I continue secluded from mankind in our old and mouldering