Mrs. Hulkes had a number of pleasant recollections of Gad's Hill Place, and of Charles Dickens and his family. "As a girl," said this lady, "I was an admiring reader of his works, and I longed to see and know the author; but little did I think that my high ambition would ever be gratified." That a warm friendship existed between his admirer and Charles Dickens, who subsequently became her near neighbour, is evidenced by the fact that, in reply to her request, he allowed this lady the great privilege of reading the catastrophe of that exquisitely-pathetic and nobly-altruistic story of A Tale of Two Cities, some weeks before its publication, as appears from the following letter:—
"Gad's Hill Place,
"Higham by Rochester, Kent.
"Sunday evening, Sixteenth Oct., 1857.
"My dear Mrs. Hulkes,
"My daughter has shown me your note, and it has impressed me with the horrible determination to become a new kind of Bluebeard, and lay an awful injunction of secrecy on you for five mortal weeks.
"Here is the remainder of the Tale of Two Cities. Not half-a-dozen of my oldest and most trusty literary friends have seen it. It is a real pleasure to me to entrust you with the catastrophe, and to ask you to keep a grim and inflexible silence on the subject until it is published. When you have read the proofs, will you kindly return them to me?
"With my regard to Mr. Hulkes,
"Believe me always,
"Faithfully yours,
"Charles Dickens.
"Mrs. Hulkes."