'PAG.
'Give my love to Ellen Nussey.'
TO MISS ELLEN NUSSEY
'WELLINGTON, N. Z., 8_th_ _Jan_. 1857.
'DEAR ELLEN,--A few days ago I got a letter from you, dated 2nd May
1856, along with some patterns and fashion-book. They seem to have
been lost somehow, as the box ought to have come by the _Hastings_,
and only now makes its appearance by the _Philip Lang_. It has come
very _apropos_ for a new year's gift, and the patterns were not
opened twenty-four hours before a silk cape was cut out by one of
them. I think I made a very impertinent request when I asked you to
give yourself so much trouble. The poor woman for whom I wanted them
is now a first-rate dressmaker--her drunken husband, who was her main
misfortune, having taken himself off and not been heard of lately.
'I am glad to hear that Mrs. Gaskell is progressing with the _Life_.
'I wish I had kept Charlotte's letters now, though I never felt it
safe to do so until latterly that I have had a home of my own. They
would have been much better evidence than my imperfect recollection,
and infinitely more interesting. A settled opinion is very likely to
look absurd unless you give the grounds for it, and even if I could
remember them it might look as if there might be other facts which I
have neglected which ought to have altered it.
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