“Well, Heaven has not forsaken me. If it had not found friends for me, at any rate it _has_ found benefactors, and I am as comfortable as I could possibly have expected to be. At Court, while I stayed there, every one, beginning at the very top, was eager to show me respect and interest; and, here in the town, many people help to make my life happy and tranquil. There are little groups in which I am certain I shall enjoy myself when I am more at my ease. I am received most cordially and flatteringly; it seems a kindly, quiet sort of set; every one is eager to be nice to me, and there are not too many people. Ease, without which there is no such thing as society, is the dominant note in this set. But, Charlotte dear, don’t imagine that I’m already devoted to these folk. I shall never care deeply for any one again, nor make any other close friendship. It was _She_ who drew us together, Charlotte; my love for you shall be my last and dearest devotion, I promise you. Good-bye, my dear; I think of you a thousand times a day; I am happy now, for I am doing something for you, and to prove my love for you is one of the ways to make me happy. If you see H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, lay my respectful homage at his feet, and tell him that my prayers follow him always. Yesterday I bought a carriage which is really quite new, and yet it only cost me 115 louis; I drove to my ball in it last night (about 13 miles from here) over a pavement that no one could imagine if they had not driven over it! My dear, in one minute I spent as much money as I did in the whole of the last year I lived in England. I use only four horses, and that shows how moderate I am, for a lady in my position ought not to have less than six. They threaten me with having to order the ‘St. Catherine’ liveries, which would cost 1200 roubles, that is, 150 louis. Compare this picture, dear Charlotte, with that of two months ago, when, with my linen frock tucked up under my arm, I was going about alone in the streets, knocking at Charlotte’s door--and now, driving about in my own carriage, drawn by four horses, with two lackeys behind, dressed out, feathers in my hair--in short, a lady of fashion! Doesn’t it seem like a dream, Charlotte? I assure you it does to me; and I assure you also, my dear, that the idea of coming seemed impossible--this world is not like the one we lived in then. The sacrifice was necessary; it had to be made; that was inevitable for both of us. I believed, at any rate, that I had to make it; and every minute I congratulate myself on having done so. Adieu! I hope you will have noticed the date of one of my letters; I am the more particular about this, since receiving yours of yesterday. Send my letters under cover to M. Withworth, your Minister here; and don’t let them be quite so thick, so as not to tax your Government too severely. * * * * *