[Please / always] Captain Joseph Howell Auditor of Accompts at the Pay Master Gen'l — Walnut Street Philadelphia [rec'd] [Docket notation in left margin: Wm. [undecipherable]] D^r Sir Bedford Nov. 1^st 1784. I must really beg your pardon for not sending you sooner the receipts for the Expenditures of the 10 Garrisons in the Settlement of the public Accts. The only Apology I can make is, it had entirely slipped my memory till this instant — You will please now to receive it by the bearer Jordan a Waggoner, tho' you should be at leisure you will oblige me by writing a line acknowledging its [receipt?] I am D^r Sir with great regard Your [undecipherable] [signature — undecipherable]