Letter

The letter reads:'Dear Sir,I came down to Richmond last evening with little Marion. I hoped to have met you in the Town as near your house I waited near St James Villas until past 8 & then I left Marion outside the garden gate & then I rang & asked if you were in I said that I had a message for you from a gentlemen friend of yours but the servant had no idea when you would be in. So then I walked up & down near the Church until a good deal past 9 o'clock. Marion was very tired so I could not wait longer. It is the first time I have been in Richmond since I left that morning & you signed the paper in the solicitor's office. It is over 2 years since I came to Putney & in all that time I have never come to ask you for the money you promised to pay which is only 5/- a week & it is over 3 & a half years since you signed the agreement & since then I have had about 5. I have been in business since I came to Putney but had to leave owing to ill health so now I am not earning anything & have not been able to earn anything for some time. Marion will be 6 in August the 11th & she is old enough to go to school. She is a fine beautiful child with beautiful curly hair & it grieves me when I cannot get her things she really wants, she wants new frocks, shoes & a whole lot of things then she could go to school. I want some things too then I hope to commence business again. I would not be able to ask you to pay me the money you owe me but I don't know how to live hardly & I cannot let little Marion starve altho she has often had to go very short of food. This is the truth God knows I would not ask you if I could manage without but you signed that paper to pay me of & help & now I am really in want of help you cannot blame me for asking you to pay me what you owe me. There must be about 30 due to me. Will you kindly answer this letter by return of post and send me as much as you possibly can at once. Then if you would pay me a certain sum down I would give you the agreement back then I would not ask you again. I mean there would be an end of it & I would have no claim.I did not want to call at your house last night but what could I do? I had the child with me & I could not wait for hours & not know whether you were in or out. Anxiously expecting a letter by return of post. YoursDora Lewis.'