oh my dear Bobby / Seeing your respected / friend Mr. Jones, sadly in want of of some- / thing to do, and ? labouring / under an uneasy conscience, I have sug- / gested to him that he write to his / neglected Bobby, and have bribed him / therto, by promising to help in the work / - Dear neglected Bobby. Georgie wrote / that first sentence!!! Isn't it musical ? - / [musical notes] / "seeing your Etc. Oh! Bobbie, long / -suffering and cruelly neglected, she is so / stunning - / [caricature of Madonna and worshipper] / 1. me. / 2. Georgie! / I have an inclination to upset all the / ideas suggested by the above, by using / other language than that befitting / a queen, but in hopes that he may / before the end of this letter recant, I go / on. Hast thou forgotten o Brother, the / time when thy promise breaking friend / said he would write to thee often? / He has had the best of purposes, but other / matters have presented. I might in- / dulge in a little private slander / as to his want of - but I / forbear, it is not charitable. / But to resume a subject in which, dear / Bobs I am sure we are both interested. - to / resume a subject which I approach with / reverential respect - I had tea with HER / this evening drank tea, Bobby, in her / presence [caricature of the reverent "Bobby" taking tea] think of it, my Bobs / (oh she is so bullying / of me, wont let me / be a peace so I / must begin a / new subject) / I'm several moths older than I was when / you left home, and I suppose - but / really, I can't write about secular / things, I must get back again to my / one absorbing, one only thought - she / does look so lovely to-night, Bobby, / she's looking over my shoulder at / this moment (take the pen then / your little termagunt-do-) (Oh! / Gillian in human form! have I found / you out then? Would I had known / you sooner.) Oh! I didn't mean / that! Never mind. But truly our / friend hath taken dear Bobby a / very short text wherefrom to / deliver so elegant a discourse. / I will change the subject. / Lately he hath - no, dear, / I mean, is it as foggy in Jersey / as it was here yesterday? He came / here in the evening, valiently cutting / his way through the fog, and read / to us for some time from the Morte / d'Arthur, which you would have / dearly loved to hear fights! oh! / such fights, it makes me brave / to think of them! / [caricature of knights duelling in front of a crowd] / But the beast of foolish jesting is / not entirely rampant tonight Fred / or here I tell you, we both dearly / love you, - (yes we do, Bobby / but as I was just going to say when / I was cruelly interrupted - the other / morning she came down in CURLS! / (2) / Oh Bobby, think of it for one / moment - then faint in rosemary / [caricature of Georgie drawing and EB-J lying on his stomach looking at her] / This profane jester possesses a won- / derful power of exaggeration, but you / will recognise at least one of the / above figures. Oh! Bobby, it ?- / bly ? good for making people / grow? / [drawing of people on a rock watching a sailing boat pass] / a (boat blessed ? / with Georgie in it) / I believe this is only the third / comic letter I have written you, / and somehow it isn't so pleasant / as the others, but / (Oh she's getting so serious Bobby / [drawing of skull and crossbones] - so will I - do you suffer / much from toothache, dear?) / I'm not "getting" I'm got, and / what's more, I won't be made / fun of! And if you do suffer / from "that hell of all diseases" / Bobby dear, it isn't right to / joke about it, and if ever your / blessed teeth do ache don't forget / to put a large hot poultice / on and wrap your blanket / over that and if Mrs. Neill / has the heart of a grasshopper / she'll give you some gruel, and / send you to bed. / [drawing of a bedroom with people carrying him to bed a with Mrs. Neill approaching with a large basin of gruel] / now Bobbs - to be very serious indeed - I am / really very sorry I did not write according / to manifold promises - if you could but / see my conscience, pricked and goaded / and harrowed and lacerated, your / heart would melt like old boots - / I'm shocked that I should have / been betrayed into lending my coun: / tenance to such language, but I / was not aware of what was coming. / Value this letter my friend the more / when I tell you that to write it, Mr. / Edward has neglected an en- / gagement at his rooms at some / time so long past now, that it is / so hopeless to attempt to keep it. Ah! You and I are guilty of this, / I most: for I suggested it. (for me) / [drawing of Georgie sitting and EB-J keeling at her feet] / / Mr. Edward Engaged / [Drawing of Morris waving a whip with Georgie looking on from the door] / Mr. Jones's friend - / It only makes me the sorrier. I am / so vexed at being the cause of / such distraction. See here, how good / is for ever mixed with evil in this / here world! But still if this / letter has pleased you love, I for / one am glad. Goodbye now darling. / We are yours lovingly, / Georgie & Edward [Caricature of a loving couple]