made about it."

"Well, we can't think of one," said Janetta wearily; "the fact is, we've
both written ourselves out. Heavens! I've just remembered Mrs. Stephen
Ludberry. I haven't thanked her for what she sent."

"What did she send?"

"I forget; I think it was a calendar."

There was a long silence, the forlorn silence of those who are bereft of
hope and have almost ceased to care.

Presently Egbert started from his seat with an air of resolution. The
light of battle was in his eyes.

"Let me come to the writing-table," he exclaimed.

"Gladly," said Janetta. "Are you going to write to Mrs. Ludberry or the
Froplinsons?"

"To neither," said Egbert, drawing a stack of notepaper towards him; "I'm
going to write to the editor of every enlightened and influential
newspaper in the Kingdom, I'm going to suggest that there should be a
sort of epistolary Truce of God during the festivities of Christmas and
New Year. From the twenty-fourth of December to the third or fourth of
January it shall be considered an offence against good sense and good
feeling to write or expect any letter or communication that does not deal
with the necessary events of the moment. Answers to invitations,
arrangements about trains, renewal of club subscriptions, and, of course,
all the ordinary everyday affairs of business, sickness, engaging new
cooks, and so forth, these will be dealt with in the usual manner as
something inevitable, a legitimate part of our daily life. But all the
devastating accretions of correspondence, incident to the festive season,
these should be swept away to give the season a chance of being really
festive, a time of untroubled, unpunctuated peace and good will."

"But you would have to make some acknowledgment of presents received,"
objected Janetta; "otherwise people would never know whether they had
arrived safely."

"Of course, I have thought of that," said Egbert; "every present that was
sent off would be accompanied by a ticket bearing the date of dispatch
and the signature of the sender, and some conventional hieroglyphic to
show that it was intended to be a Christmas or New Year gift; there would
be a counterfoil with space for the recipient's name and the date of
arrival, and all you would have to do would be to sign and date the
counterfoil, add a conventional hieroglyphic indicating heartfelt thanks
and gratified surprise, put the thing into an envelope and post it."

"It sounds delightfully s