But there had been
an express stipulation with Lady Fawn that she should be allowed to
receive letters from him, and she would naturally be vexed when he did not
write to her. So he wrote.
"PORTRAY COTTAGE, September 3, 18--.
"DEAREST LUCY: We have been here for a fortnight, shooting grouse,
wandering about the mountains, and going to sleep on the hillsides. You
will say that there never was a time so fit for the writing of letters,
but that will be because you have not learned yet that the idler people
are the more inclined they are to be idle. We hear of lord chancellors
writing letters to their mothers every day of their lives; but men who
have nothing on earth to do cannot bring themselves to face a sheet of
paper. I would promise that when I am lord chancellor I would write to you
every day were it not that when that time comes I shall hope to be always
with you.
"And, in truth, I have had to pay constant visits to my cousin, who lives
in a big castle on the seaside, ten miles from here, over the mountains,
and who is in a peck of troubles; in spite of her prosperity one of the
unhappiest women, I should say, that you could meet anywhere.
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