"Ever yours faithfully,
"G.H. LEWES."
* * * * *
And on the 28th February, in the same year, accordingly he writes:—
* * * * *
"Touching our visit to Florence, you may be sure we could not lightly forego such a pleasure. We start to-morrow, and unless we are recalled by my mother's health, we calculate being with you about the end of March. But we shall give due warning of our arrival. We both look forward to this holiday, and 'languish for the purple seas;' though the high winds now howl a threat of anything but a pleasant crossing to Calais. Che! Che! One must pay for one's pleasure! With both of our warmest salutations to you and yours,
"Believe me, yours faithfully,
"G.H. LEWES."
* * * * *
The travellers must, however, have reached us some days before the end of March, for I have a letter to my wife from George Eliot, dated from Naples on the 1st of April, 1869, after they had left us. She writes:—