should have heard her! I had to remind her of the time she spelled
'Tophet' with an 'f' in the middle; then she subsided.)

(I just read this last paragraph to Madge, to see if she called it
gossip, as I was going to take it out if it belonged to her topic,
but she said No, she didn't call it gossip at all--that she should
call it slander!)

You don't know how we all long to see you, dear darling that you are.
We live in the hope of having you with us very soon, and meanwhile
the beautiful bedstead is almost finished, and a perfect success. (I
wish to withdraw the last three quarters of that sentence, for
obvious reasons!!)

Dear, dear! Geoffrey calls 'Time up,' and I've scarcely said
anything I should. Never, never again will I submit to this method
of correspondence; it is absolutely petrifying to one's genius. When
I am once forced to walk in a path, nothing but the whole out-of-
doors will satisfy me.

I'm very much afraid I haven't amused you, dear, -


But when I lie in the green kirkyard,
With the mould upon my breast,
Say not that 'She did well or ill,'
Only, 'She did her best.'


Now, do you think that will interfere with Bell, when it's only a