he one who had no room at all, made me
quite low-spirited.

_Wednesday._--Your letter reached us on Monday, and we all went out and
sat in a row on the upper step, like birds on a telegraph wire, and papa
read it aloud. I am lying by to-day--writing, reading, lounging, and
enjoying the scenery. You ought to see papa eat strawberries!!! They are
very plentiful on our hill. The grass on the lawn is pricking up like
needles; easy to see if you kneel down and stare hard, but absolutely
invisible otherwise; yet papa keeps calling me to look out of the window
and admire it, and shouts to people driving by to do the same. He has
just come in, and I told him what I was saying about him, on which he
gave me a good beating, doubled up his fist at me, and then kissed me to
make up.... _Don't sew_ Isn't it enough that I have nearly killed myself
with doing it? We have just heard of the death of Dickens and the
sensation it is making in England.

_Thursday._--This bird of ours is splendid. I have just framed the two
best likenesses of you and hung them up in front of my table. You would
laugh at papa's ways about coffee. He complains that he drank too much
at Philadelphia, and says that with strawberries we don't need it, and
that I may tell Maria so. I tell her, and lo! the next morning there it
is. I ask the meaning, and she says he came down saying I did not feel
very well and needed it! The next day it appears again. Why? He had been
down and ordered it because it was _good_. The next day he orders it
because it is his last day here but one, and to-morrow it will be on the
table because it is the last! Dreadful man! and yet I hate to have him
go.

_Friday._--I drove papa to Manchester, and as usual, this exploit
brought on a thunder shower, with a much needed deluge of rain. I had
a hard time getting home, and got wet to the skin. I had not only to
drive, but keep a roll of matting from slipping out, hold up the boot
and the umbrella, and keep stopping to get my hat out of my eyes, which
kept knocking over them. Then Coco goes like the wind this summer.
Fortunately I had my waterproof with me and got home safely. The worst
of it is that, in my bewilderment, I refused to let a woman get in who
was walking to South Dorset. I shall die of remorse.. Well, well, how it
is raining, to be sure.

_Monday._--I hear that papa sent a dispatch to somebody to know how I
got here from Manchester. I do not wonder he is worried. I am such a