She has refused going to Montreal at all this winter; and has
hinted, though not impolitely, that she wants no guardian of her
conduct but herself; adding a compliment to my ladyship's discretion so
very civil, it is impossible for me to repeat it with decency.

O Heavens! your brother and Fitzgerald! I fly. The dear creatures!
my life has been absolute vegetation since they absented themselves.

Adieu! my dear,
Your faithful
A. Fermor.



LETTER 56.


To Miss Rivers, Clarges Street.

Silleri, Jan. 24.

We have the same parties and amusements we used to have, my dear,
but there is by no means the same spirit in them; constraint and
dullness seem to have taken the place of that sweet vivacity and
confidence which made our little society so pleasing: this odious man
has infected us all; he seems rather a spy on our pleasures than a
partaker of them; he is more an antidote to joy than a tall maiden
aunt.