"My dear Miss Lethbridge—"
("That's altogether too formal, isn't it?" said Fanny, looking up from the letter. "Why doesn't the stupid fellow commence with, 'My own dearest Fanny'? It would be very much nicer, wouldn't it?")
"My dear Miss Lethbridge,—Since my last we have had glorious weather, and I have been to no end of places, enjoying myself thoroughly. The only drawback is that I am without a companion, and that I sometimes feel rather lonely—"
("If there ever was a young fellow," said Fanny, "cut out for a family man, it is Fred.")
"And that I sometimes feel rather lonely. But we cannot have everything we wish for in this world, and I shall soon be home. One satisfaction is that I am making myself well acquainted with the route I have taken—as delightful a track as can be imagined—and that it will be a great pleasure by-and-by to guide some one who has never been to the beauty-land of Switzerland over the ground I have traversed—"
("I wonder," said Fanny, "if he has anybody in his eye, and whether he is thinking of a honey-moon!")
"Over the ground I have traversed. I received your pleasant, chatty letter, telling me all the news, and I cannot thank you enough for it. You are a model of a correspondent. So you all went to hear Faust at Covent Garden; I can imagine how you enjoyed yourselves, loving music as you do. When I was at Milan I went to La Scala, about which everybody who hasn't seen it raves. It isn't a patch on Covent Garden. You say it would have done my heart good if I had seen how beautiful Miss Farebrother looked—"
("I gave him," said Fanny, "a most elaborate description of our dresses.")
"To see how beautiful Miss Farebrother looked. You need scarcely have told me that; she always looks beautiful—and so do you—"
("I come in," said Fanny, tossing her head, "as a kind of make-weight. Out of common politeness he could not have said less.")