Ever yours,
ALICE.
From Mrs. Montague Mount to Mrs. Tenterden.
170A, EBURY STREET,
24th July 1901.
DEAREST ALICE,
I was much interested in your letter. Needless to say that I wish you the success that you are sure to attain. One word of advice. If I were you, while you are at Southampton, I should manage to be a good deal more at the hotel than you appear to be. You cannot have much opportunity for conversation on board the yacht, but at the hotel you can have Mr. Vivian all to yourself. And you can easily make excuses to get off the yacht, and as he is evidently so épris, he will follow you to the hotel, when you will have him more or less at your mercy. I shall be longing to hear how the plot thickens.
With fond love,
Believe me,
Your devoted friend,
LILY.
From Mrs. Tenterden to Mrs. Montague Mount.
July 29th, 1901.
DEAREST LILY,
Thanks for yours. My dear child, I have taken your excellent advice and am very glad that I did so. Your plan of campaign has proved most successful. I have had Jack with me for hours in the smoking room at the hotel, where the ladies staying in the hotel as well as the men always resort. It is a large room and affords ample opportunity for a tête-à-tête. Of these opportunities I have availed myself to the fullest possible extent. And with what result, you will naturally ask? With the result, my dear, of making this man absolutely mad about me. He has become an utter imbecile. C'est tout dit. His incoherent raving would only bore you, so, like the kindhearted little person I am, I spare you this infliction. Suffice it to say that he is mine body and soul. I say nothing about his fortune, because that naturally goes with the other two.