My dear Wolff,—Your suspicions of intrigues are apparently so deep-rooted that they do not even exclude me from the range of their operations. I have not seen or heard of Chenery since he dined with me last June, nor should I at any time have any communication with him of which you would not be fully cognisant.
I cannot explain the sentence in Saturday’s Times which seems to have exercised you so much; but, in any case, I wonder that you do not see that these recurring speculations or statements anent the Fourth Party, as to whether it is alive or dead, whether it is united or disrupted, is a strong testimony to its value as a political instrument, and as to the proof of the interest and curiosity of the public in its proceedings. The more Chenery or others in the Press make statements about it, the more I am pleased. I will be at the Carlton at eight o’clock on Thursday.
Yours ever,
Randolph S. C.
And here is a rebuke:—
Blenheim Palace: December 31, 1883.
My dear Wolff,—I have had a very curious letter from the Queen, which I will not show you when we meet.
Yours ever,
Randolph S. C.
Blenheim Palace: January 2, 1884.
My dear Wolff,—You are not generally slow to take a hint, therefore your failure to understand my letter which you received on New Year’s Day is, I think, a pretence. In political friendships confidence must be mutual, and measure for measure the rule. You wrote to me that you had received a very curious letter from Lord S., and that you would show it to me when we met. When I receive ‘very curious letters from political personages’ I have hitherto sent them to you without delay. Your cautious behaviour about Lord S.’s letter seemed to call for similar caution on my part. I therefore wrote to you that I had received a very curious letter from the Queen, which I should not show you when we met, and I shall not.
Yours ever,
Randolph S. C.