Dec: 7: 1891 Darling, / What a ready ans- / wer you sent to my call - I / was delighted with the vigour of / your letter. I should have loved / to come to you in your quiet / time now - but have used all my / furlough in going to Clouds. / I will gladly come, all being well / sometime in the new year, when / you see 3 or 4 quiet poss- / ble days, so that is a bargain. / I enjoyed my time with your / mother very much, though I saw / but little of her alone - but there / was an air of well-being about / her which pleased / me greatly. I liked / also very much to be there with / George & his wife and child, (dream- / like as it sounds) and Pame- / la was in excellent ? - so / bright and handsome - such a / "fine figure of a woman" in fact! / I am glad to think of Phil coming to / see you, dear - but, as you say / it all seems very strange, and / life rushes by so quickly that I / feel now to grudge the hours that / I sleep. - I feel as if you / must be quite right in not finally / keeping as an element of your home / and the caretaker of your Children / a nervous & excitable person, / and I hope you may meet with / the "treasure" who floats before / all our eyes in every capacity. / Miss Dolbsodoff told me that she / thought Miss Brough's ? / was a very excellent one, Miss / Brough was Phil's first tea- / cher! He went to her school in / Gloucester Road when we lived / in Kensington Square, and used to come / home laden with "certificates / of merit!" or some such ?. / - I think Bezique is / a charming game, but like it / best with 3 players - it is over / ? a breath with only two, it / seems to me. I forget it com- / pletely if I cease playing, but / pick it up again in time to avoid / disgrace if anyone will be good / enough to play with me. I consider / what causes the difference between / good and bad memories? When / I was a child I once heard a pom- / pous saying which still abides by / me, because it struck me as having / truth in it - "The secret of reten- / tion is attention!" I should think / perhaps that egotistic people would / not remember what they hear so well / as people with freer minds - though / the idea cond? myself! It is / curious how absorbed one can be in / the affairs of an individual whom / one honestly feels to come short in / every way - and so lose knowledge / of other & better things. - / I'm reading a fascinating book: / "Celtic Fairy Tales" selected & edited by Joseph Jacobs, the editor / of "Folk-lore", & published by / David Nutt. I never met such a / ? of romance I think since / I first read the Morte d'Arthur - / but that is because I have not / been alert very likely, I've / just red one called "the Story / of Deirdre" which made me / scarce know if I were I. It is / scarcely a Child's book & yet / I think is meant for anyone who / can understand it, old or young. / Does old Mrs / Wedgewood come to see / you, & her admirable daughter? / How grown Ego & Guy look in / the photograph of them which your / mama took. I could only see their / figures in it - the faces were / a blur - though funnily enough / the Guy-blur had Guy's expes- / sion though never a feature. / Margaret is looking so well, / and I am particularly thankful / for this because she hopes in / June next to have another babe. / It It will be very good for dear little / Angela, & a great delight to us all. Angela now walks and talks / and is a distinct individual. / Edward has had a long, tiresome / cold, by way of ? to the / beginning of Winter / but still he keeps very / ? well "in himself" / I think. There has been a gigantic / clearing out of the Studios lately, / and they look much the better / for it - but two other rooms in / the house, where debris had / to be stored for sorting, are much / the worse! / Yesterday Margaret's old pet / Frill, the Persian cat, died. / She was about 7 1/2 years old. / She was buried today in a neat / little grave in the garden, with / me for mourners & procession, and she looked so pretty & peace- / ful, poor little thing. - / now I must stop. Edward / has come in and we are going / to play a game of Backgammon / by way of a startling novelty. / With dear love I am always / my darling, / Your faithful / G. Burne-Jones