James Fenimore Cooper's Frontier: The Pioneers as History

 [Part Three: July-August 1794. The Events of the Plot]. 

Chapter 25:

 [A Mysterious Letter] Next morning Richard Jones finds Judge Temple drawn and 

anxious; he has received a mysterious letter from England, apparently reporting someone's death 

in a shipwreck over a year before. The expedition to visit the mine is forgotten. The Judge calls 

for his lawyer, Dirck Van der School, to assist him in preparing some papers. Oliver Edwards 

offers his services, but Elizabeth says that it is a private family matter. When Elizabeth expresses 

sympathy for John Mohegan, Edwards is pleasantly surprised, and seems to be in love with her. 

When he leaves the house he encounters Van der School bearing a packet of papers, which the 

lawyer refuses to discuss. Summer comes on. Richard Jones is often seen in conference with 

Jotham Riddel, and early in July again suggests to Judge Temple that they make the deferred 

expedition on the following day.