here, he
wants to put me off till the third week in September, at which time I
expect to be in Glasgow, the manager of that theatre having written to
me thence that October is not a good month there, and begged me to come
in September. I am sorry to lose my Norwich engagement, but cannot help
it. I have heard nothing more from the Princess's Theatre.

... My father talks of giving up his readings, and I have therefore
spoken to Mitchell, of the St. James's Theatre, about giving some
myself, and find him very willing to undertake the whole "speculation"
and business, not only in London but all over the provinces, with me and
for me; so that I do not feel quite as uncomfortable about the
uncertainty of an engagement at the Princess's as I might have done.

Mr. Mitchell is a Liberal, and an honest man, too, and I shall be quite
safe in his hands; in the mean time I shall be very glad to be at
Carolside instead of in London, though to-day and yesterday the weather
has been very cold and chilly, and in Scotland is not likely to be
warmer.

Do you hear of this horrid murder in Paris [that of the Duchesse de
Praslin, by her husband]? Ever so many people that I know here knew the
unhappy woman and her still more wretched husband; and the woman who has
been accused of having instigated the crime was little Lady Melgund's
governess for six years.

Good-bye, my dear.

I am ever yours,
FANNY.

[Mademoiselle de Luzzy, the governess of the Duc de Praslin's
children, was acquitted upon his trial of any complicity in his
crime; that of which she was not acquitted, however, was, turning
the hearts of her pupils against their unfortunate mother, and
endeavoring to establish her position and authority in the duchess's
home and family, at her expense. By a most strange turn of
circumstance, Mademoiselle de Luzzy, thus connected with the great
world of Paris and implicated in one of its most tragic occurrences,
went to the United States, where she married a country clergyman,
whose family belonged to the peaceful population of Stockbridge--one
of the loveliest villages in the "Happy Valley" of the Housatonic.
The residence of the Sedgwick family in this charming place
attracted to it many foreigners of mark and distinction; but few,
certainly, whose claims to notoriety were so peculia