X.
"Arden Lodge,
"Near Wensley,
"Mertford.
"My dear Harold,—I am so annoyed and disgusted that I can scarcely hold my pen. Wiche has proposed to Teresa and has been accepted. What could be more outrageous than such conduct? As for Teresa, you know I always thought her dreadfully sly. How any woman could prefer Wiche to Ventry! But there, what on earth does Wiche see in Teresa? Van Huyster told me in the course of conversation at dinner that he is engaged to some American person in Paris, and that he hopes to persuade her to marry him on the Fourth of July. We must really be more careful in future about whom we invite to the house. Lilian and Rookes are flirting in the most unexpected manner. I thought they could not bear each other. Nothing, however, would astonish me in that direction after the surprises of this day. I believe that I am the only sane person in the house. Thank goodness, they all go to-morrow. I long for rest. Felicia seems hysterical; I never knew a girl of seventeen
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