dea
that he is not quite so beautiful in your eyes as was
poor Frank. Remember that poor Frank has to wear two blue
shirts a week and no more, in order to save the washing!
How many does Lord Castlewell wear? How many will he wear
when he is a marquis?

But at any rate it does seem to be the case that you and
the earl are not as happy together as your best friends
could wish. We had understood that the earl was ready
to expire for love at the sound of every note. Has he
slackened in his admiration so as to postpone his expiring
to the close of every song? Or why is it that Frank should
be allowed again to come up and trouble your dreams?

You are so fond of joking that it is almost impossible for
a poor steady-going, boycotted young woman to follow you
to the end. Of course I understand that what you say about
Mr. Moss is altogether a joke. But then what you say about
Frank is, I am sure, not a joke. If you love him the best,
as I am sure you do--so very much the best as to disregard
the marble halls--I advise you, in the gentlest manner
possible, to tell the marble halls that they are not
wanted. It cannot be right to marry one man when you say
that you love another as you do Frank. Of course he will
wait if you like to wait. All I can say is, that no man
loves a girl better than he loves you.

We are very much down in the world at the present. We have
literally no money. Papa's relatives have given their
money to him to invest, and he has laid it out on the
property here. Nobody was thought to have done so well as
he till lately; but now they cannot get their interest,
and, of course, they are impatient. Commissioners have
sat in the neighbourhood, and have reduced the rents all
round. But they can't reduce what doesn't exist. There
are tenants who I suppose will pay. Pat Carroll could
certainly have done so. But then papa's share in the
property will be reduced almost to nothing. He will not
get above five shillings out of every twenty shillings of
rent, such as it was supposed to be when he bought it. I
don't understand all this, and I am sure I cannot make you
do so.

I have nothing to tell about my young man, as you call
him, except that he cannot be mine. I fancy that girls are
not fond of writing about their young men when they don't
belong to them. Frank, at any rate, is you