"I am making a little excursion from the Engadine, my dearest ofall dear friends. Two charming fellow-travelers take care of me;and we may perhaps get as far as the Lake of Como.

"My sister (already much improved in health) remains at St.Moritz with the old governess. The moment I know what exactcourse we are going to take, I shall write to Julia to forwardany letters which arrive in my absence. My life, in this earthlyparadise, will be only complete when I hear from my darlingEmily.

"In the meantime, we are staying for the night at someinteresting place, the name of which I have unaccountablyforgotten; and here I am in my room, writing to you atlast--dying to know if Sir Jervis has yet thrown himself at yourfeet, and offered to make you Lady Redwood with magnificentsettlements.

"But you are waiting to hear who my new friends are. My dear, oneof them is, next to yourself, the most delightful creature inexistence. Society knows her as Lady Janeaway. I love heralready, by her Christian name; she is my friend Doris. And shereciprocates my sentiments.

"You will now understand that union of sympathies made usacquainted with each other.

"If there is anything in me to be proud of, I think it must be myadmirable appetite. And, if I have a passion, the name of it isPastry. Here again, Lady Doris reciprocates my sentiments. We sitnext to each other at the _table d'hote_.

"Good heavens, I have forgotten her husband! They have beenmarried rather more than a month. Did I tell you that she is justtwo years older than I am?

"I declare I am forgetting him again! He is Lord Janeaway. Such aquiet modest man, and so easily amused. He carries with himeverywhere a dirty little tin case, with air holes in the cover.He goes softly poking about among bushes and brambles, and underrocks, and behind old wooden houses. When he has caught somehideous insect that makes one shudder, he blushes with pleasure,and looks at his wife and me, and says, with the prettiest lisp:'This is what I call enjoying the day.' To see the manner inwhich he obeys Her is, between ourselves, to feel proud of beinga woman.

"Where was I? Oh, at the _table d'hote_.

"Never, Emily--I say it with a solemn sense of the claims oftruth--never have I eaten such an infamous, abominable,maddeningly bad dinner, as the dinner they gave us on our firstday at the hotel. I ask you if I am not patient; I appeal to yourown recollection of occasions when I have exhibited extraordinaryself-control. My dear, I held out until they brought the pastryround. I took one bite, and committed the most shocking offenseagainst good manners at table that you can imagine. Myhandkerchief, my poor innocent handkerchief, received thehorrid--please suppose the rest. My hair stands on end, when Ithink of it. Our neighbors at the table saw me. The coarse menlaughed. The sweet young bride, sincerely feeling for me, said,'Will you allow me to shake hands? I did exactly what you havedone the day before yesterday.' Such was the beginning of myfriendship with Lady Doris Janeaway.

"We are two resolute women--I mean that _she_ is resolute, andthat I follow her--and we have asserted our right of dining toour own satisfaction, by means of an interview with the chiefcook.

"This interesting person is an ex-Zouave in the French army.Instead of making excuses, he confessed that the barbarous tastesof the English and American visitors had so discouraged him, thathe had lost all pride and pleasure in the exercise of his art. Asan example of what he meant, he mentioned his experience of twoyoung Englishmen who could speak no foreign language. The waitersreported that they objected to their breakfasts, and especiallyto the eggs. Thereupon (to translate the Frenchman's own way ofputting it) he exhausted himself in exquisite preparations ofeggs. _Eggs a la tripe, au gratin, a l'Aurore, a la Dauphine, ala Poulette, a la Tartare, a la Venitienne, a la Bordelaise_, andso on, and so on. Still the two young gentlemen were notsatisfied. The ex-Zouave, infuriated; wounded in his honor,disgraced as a professor, insisted on an explanation. What, inheaven's name, _did_ they want for breakfast? They wanted boiledeggs; and a fish which they called a _Bloaterre_. It wasimpossible, he said, to express his contempt for the English ideaof a breakfast, in the presence of ladies. You know how a catexpresses herself in the presence of a dog--and you willunderstand the allusion. Oh, Emily, what dinners we have had, inour own room, since we spoke to that noble cook!

"Have I any more news to send you? Are you interested, my dear,in eloquent young clergymen?

"On our first appearance at the public table we noticed aremarkable air of depression among the ladies. Had someadventurous gentleman tried to climb a mountain, and failed? Haddisastrous political news arrived from England; a defeat of theConservatives, for instance? Had a revolution in the fashionsbroken out in Paris, and had all our best dresses become of noearthly value to us? I applied for information to the only ladypresent who shone on the company with a cheerful face--my friendDoris, of course. "'What day was yesterday?' she asked.

"'Sunday,' I answered.

"'Of all melancholy Sundays,' she continued, the most melancholyin the calendar. Mr. Miles Mirabel preached his farewell sermon,in our temporary chapel upstairs.'

"'And you have not recovered it yet?'

"'We are all heart-broken, Miss Wyvil.'

"This naturally interested me. I asked what sort of sermons Mr.Mirabel preached. Lady Janeaway said: 'Come up to our room afterdinner. The subject is too distressing to be discussed inpublic.'

"She began by making me personally acquainted with the reverendgentleman--that is to say, she showed me the photographicportraits of him. They were two in number. One only presented hisface. The other exhibited him at full length, adorned in hissurplice. Every lady in the congregation had received the twophotographs as a farewell present. 'My portraits,' Lady Dorisremarked, 'are the only complete specimens. The others have beenirretrievably ruined by tears.'

"You will now expect a personal description of this fascinatingman. What the photographs failed to tell me, my friend was sokind as to complete from the resources of her own experience.Here is the result presented to the best of my ability.

"He is young--not yet thirty years of age. His complexion isfair; his features are delicate, his eyes are clear blue. He haspretty hands, and rings prettier still. And such a voice, andsuch manners! You will say there are plen ty of pet parsons whoanswer to this description. Wait a little--I have kept his chiefdistinction till the last. His beautiful light hair flows inprofusion over his shoulders; and his glossy beard waves, atapostolic length, down to the lower buttons of his waistcoat.

"What do you think of the Reverend Miles Mirabel now?

"The life and adventures of our charming young clergyman, beareloquent testimony to the saintly patience of his disposition,under trials which would have overwhelmed an ordinary man. (LadyDoris, please notice, quotes in this place the language of hisadmirers; and I report Lady Doris.)

"He has been clerk in a lawyer's office--unjustly dismissed. Hehas given readings from Shakespeare--infamously neglected . Hehas been secretary to a promenade concert company--deceived by apenniless manager. He has been employed in negotiations formaking foreign railways--repudiated by an unprincipledGovernment. He has been translator to a publishinghouse--declared incapable by envious newspapers and reviews. Hehas taken refuge in dramatic criticism--dismissed by a corrupteditor. Through all these means of purification for the priestlycareer, he passed at last into the one sphere that was worthy ofhim: he entered the Church, under the protection of influentialfriends. Oh, happy change! From that moment his labors have beenblessed. Twice already he has been presented with silver tea-potsfilled with sovereigns. Go where he may, precious sympathiesenviron him; and domestic affection places his knife and fork atinnumerable family tables. After a continental career, which willleave undying recollections, he is now recalled to England--atthe suggestion of a person of distinction in the Church, whoprefers a mild climate. It will now be his valued privilege torepresent an absent rector in a country living; remote fromcities, secluded in pastoral solitude, among simple breeders ofsheep. May the shepherd prove worthy of the flock!

"Here again, my dear, I must give the merit where the merit isdue. This memoir of Mr. Mirabel is not of my writing. It formedpart of his farewell sermon, preserved in the memory of LadyDoris--and it shows (once more in the language of his admirers)that the truest humility may be found in the character of themost gifted man.

"Let me only add, that you will have opportunities of seeing andhearing this popular preacher, when circumstances permit him toaddress congregations in the large towns. I am at the end of mynews; and I begin to feel--after this long, long letter--that itis time to go to bed. Need I say that I have often spoken of youto Doris, and that she entreats you to be her friend as well asmine, when we meet again in England?

"Good-by, darling, for the present. With fondest love,Your CECILIA."

"P.S.--I have formed a new habit. In case of feeling hungry inthe night, I keep a box of chocolate under the pillow. You haveno idea what a comfort it is. If I ever meet with the man whofulfills my ideal, I shall make it a condition of the marriagesettlement, that I am to have chocolate under the pillow."