rds. You will see it; not
that, indeed, it may ever again be so very happy a thing in its
effect....

God bless you, dear Harriet. Good-bye.

Ever yours,
FANNY.

HARLEY STREET, January 31st, 1842.
MY DEAREST HARRIET,

Why do you ask me if I would not write to you unless you wrote to me? Do
you not know perfectly well that I _would not_--unless, indeed, I
thought you were ill or something was the matter with you; and then I
would write just enough to find out if such was the case. Why should I
write to you, when I hate writing, and yet nevertheless _always_ answer
letters? Surely the spontaneous, or promiscuous (which did you call it,
you Irishwoman?) epistle should come from the person who does not
profess to labor under an _inkophobia_. And what can you righteously
complain of, when I not only never fail scrupulously to answer your
letters, but, be they long or short, invariably answer them
_abundantly_, having as great an objection to writing a short letter
almost as I have to writing any? Basta! never doubt any more about the
matter, my dear Harriet. I never (I think) shall write to you, but I
also (I think) shall never fail to answer you. If you are not satisfied
with that, I can't help it.... We have a lull in our engagements just
now--comparative quiet. We gave a family dinner on Friday.... My father,
I am sorry to say, gets no rent from the theatre. The nights on which
my sister does not sing the house is literally empty. Alas! it is the
old story over again: that whole ruinous concern is propped only by her.
That property is like some fate to which our whole family are subject,
by which we are every one of us destined to be borne down by turn, after
vainly dedicating ourselves to its rescue.

On Saturday I spent the evening at Lady Charlotte Lindsay's, who has a
very kind regard for you, and spoke of your brother Barry with great
affection. To-morrow, after going to the opera, I shall go to Miss
Berry's. My sister and father go to Apsley House, where the Duke of
Wellington gives a grand entertainment to the King of Prussia. We were
asked too, but, though rather tempted by the fine show, it was finally
concluded that we should not go, so we shall only have it at second
hand. This is all my news for the present, dear Harriet. God bless you.
Good-bye. If you ever wish to hear