Is a quiet evening in a Maltese drawing-room as pleasant as those we have passed in Mitre Court and Bell Yard? Tell me all about it, everything pleasant and everything unpleasant that befalls you.
"I want you to say a great deal about yourself. Are you happy? and do you not repent going out? I wish I could see you for one hour only.
"Remember me affectionately to your sister and brother, and tell me when you write if Mrs. Stoddart likes Malta and how the climate agrees with her and with thee.
"We heard you were taken prisoners, and for several days believed the tale.
"How did the pearls and the fine court finery bear the fatigues of the voyage and how often have they been worn and admired?
"Rickman wants to know if you are going to be married yet. Satisfy him in that little particular when you write.
"The Fenwicks send their love and Mrs. Reynolds her love and the little old lady her best respects.
"Mrs. Jeffries, who I see now and then, talks of you with tears in her eyes and when she heard you was taken prisoner, Lord! how frightened she was. She has heard, she tells me, that Mr. Stoddart is to have a pension of two thousand a year whenever he chooses to return to England.
"God bless you and send you all manner of comforts and happinesses."
Mrs. Reynolds was another 'little old lady,' a familiar figure at the Lambs' table. She had once been Charles's schoolmistress; had made an unfortunate marriage and would have gone under in the social stream but for his kindly hand. Out of their
