Letter
from Miss Mina Murray
to Miss Lucy Westenra9 May. My dearest
Lucy, Forgive my long delay in writing, but I have been simply overwhelmed
with work. The life of an assistant schoolmistress is sometimes trying. I am longing
to be with you, and by the sea, where we can talk together freely and build our
castles in the air. I have been working very hard lately, because I want to keep
up with Jonathan's studies, and I have been practicing shorthand very assiduously.
When we are married I shall be able to be useful to Jonathan, and if I can stenograph
well enough I can take down what he wants to say in this way and write it out
for him on the typewriter, at which also I am practicing very hard. He and
I sometimes write letters in shorthand, and he is keeping a stenographic journal
of his travels abroad. When I am with you I shall keep a diary in the same way.
I don't mean one of those two-pages-to-the-week-with-Sunday-squeezed-in-a-corner
diaries, but a sort of journal which I can write in whenever I feel inclined. I
do not suppose there will be much of interest to other people, but it is not intended
for them. I may show it to Jonathan some day if there is in it anything worth
sharing, but it is really an exercise book. I shall try to do what I see lady
journalists do, interviewing and writing descriptions and trying to remember conversations.
I am told that, with a little practice, one can remember all that goes on or that
one hears said during a day. However, we shall see. I will tell you of my
little plans when we meet. I have just had a few hurried lines from Jonathan from
Transylvania. He is well, and will be returning in about a week. I am longing
to hear all his news. It must be nice to see strange countries. I wonder if we,
I mean Jonathan and I, shall ever see them together. There is the ten o'clock
bell ringing. Goodbye. Your loving Mina Tell me all the news when
you write. You have not told me anything for a long time. I hear rumours, and
especially of a tall, handsome, curly-haired man.??? |
