I have received your furs from Mrs. Shapter, and shall send them to New York by the “Arago,” which will leave Southampton on the 19th instant. They are packed in a nice little box directed to the care of George Plitt, Esquire. I shall, through Mr. Croshey, get Captain Lines himself to take charge of them and pay the duty. Please to so arrange it that some friend at New York may be ready to receive them and refund him the duty which he may have paid. I have again inadvertently opened a letter addressed to you which I enclose, and I assure that I did not read a single word in it, except “My dearest Hattie.” I can, therefore, only guess who is the writer. I started out yesterday and paid three very agreeable visits to the Countess Bernsdorff, Lady Palmerston, and the Duchess of Somerset. I found them all at home, and had a nice little chat with each. The duchess told me Lord Panmure had been with her, and had been quite extravagant in his praises of what he termed my able, friendly, and discreet conduct in the late difficulties between the two countries. But for me, he said, these might have produced serious consequences. The duchess, as usual, spoke extravagantly in your praise, and desired her love to you. I presume that Mrs. Lane and yourself have had a fine time of it hearing Rachel. She is quite competent to understand and appreciate the beauties of French tragedy. However this may be, she possesses as much knowledge in this line as thousands of others who will be quite enraptured with Rachel’s acting. I am glad you are on good and friendly terms with her...... From present appearances the war will end before the spring. This will be the case should the czar accept the terms suggested by Austria and consented to by the allies. December 21, 1855. Since the date of my last letter I have received the news of the death of poor Mary.[25] I need not inform you of my devoted attachment to her, and she deserved it all. Poor girl! she had her own troubles, and she bore them all with cheerful patience. She is now at rest, I trust, in that heavenly home where there is no more pain and sorrow. Her loss will make the remainder of my residence here, which I trust may be brief, dreary and disconsolate. How happy I am to know that you are with Mrs. Plitt! She has a warm heart, and a fine intellect, and will, better than any other person, know how to comfort and soothe you in your sorrow. I am thankful that you are now at home. With Mrs. Plitt’s kind letter to me came that from Mrs. Speer to you, and one from Lieutenant Beale to myself. I shall always gratefully remember his kindness and that of his wife. His letter was just what it ought to have been. I wrote to Mrs. Plitt from Southampton by the “Arago,” which left on Wednesday last.