At last a letter, in answer, was composed on a slate by the governess, with Lady Flora’s assistance, and then a pen was put into my hand by the governess, so that I wrote the letter. It was then sent to Lady Flowerdale, to know if she approved of it; but she did not. She said it wanted ease and simplicity, and was not what a nursery letter ought to be, nor like what a doll would say. She then tried herself, but she could not write one to her mind.
That same evening, as she sat at dinner with the earl, her husband, they happened to be alone. Lady Flora was gone to bed, but had left me sitting upright in one corner of the room, having forgotten to take me upstairs with her. Her ladyship, observing that Lord Flowerdale, who was a cabinet minister, was troubled with state business, sought to relieve his mind by telling him all about this letter to me, and their difficulty in answering it. The minister at first paid no attention to this triviality, but when her ladyship related how the governess and Lady Flora had tried all the morning to write a proper answer for the doll, and how hard she herself had tried, but could not, the minister was amused, and in the end quite laughed, forgot the business of the state, and actually became pleasant. He desired to see the letter. It was brought in by a footman,—placed upon a splendid silver salver, and handed to the minister by the butler with a grave and important face.
The minister read the letter very attentively; then smiled, and laid it by the side of his plate, on which was a slice of currant tart. ‘So,’ said he, ‘Flora and her governess have tried in vain to write a proper reply to this letter, from the doll; and your ladyship has also tried in vain. Well, I have a mind to write the reply myself; I need not go down to the house (meaning, as I afterwards learnt, the House of Lords) for ten minutes, and if I do not eat this currant tart, but write instead, I can very well spare that time. Bring me my writing-desk.’
The desk was brought, and placed on a side-table. His lordship sat down, and opening Ellen Plummy’s letter, began to write a reply for me.
He sat with his forehead full of lines, frowning and screwing up his mouth, and working very hard at it, and only writing a few words at a time, after studying Ellen’s letter, which lay open before him.
Three times a servant came to announce to his lordship that his carriage was at the door; but he had not finished. At last, however, it was done, and he was about to read it when, hearing the clock strike, he found he had been three-quarters of an hour over it, and, jumping up, hurried out of the room, and I heard the carriage drive off at a great rate.
Lady Flowerdale, with a face of smiling curiosity, told one of the footmen to bring her what his lordship had been writing. She cast her eyes over it, laid it down, and then calmly desired all the servants to leave the room. As soon as they were gone she took it up again hastily, and read it aloud, as if to enjoy it more fully. It was as follows:—
‘TO MISS E. PLUMMY
‘Hanover Square, July 15.
‘My dear Madam,—I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your very kind letter, the date of which has been omitted, no doubt by an oversight. You have stated that I still hold a place in your memory, although you have now got another doll, and that your affection for this latter one is only by reason of your thoughts dwelling upon me. You have also stated that you possess various little articles; and I, moreover, notice sundry allusions to needlework and Twelfth-cake, to your brother Master Thomas, and to Bonaparte and Mr. Abernethy; the purport of which is not necessary for me to discuss. But I must frankly tell you that, having now become the doll of another, I cannot with propriety reciprocate that solicitude which you are pleased to entertain for me, nor can I, for the same reason, address you in similar terms of affection. At the same time, my dear madam, permit me to add that I cherish a lively sense of all the kindness you once showed me, and I cannot doubt the sincerity of your present professions of respect and esteem.