MY DEAREST, SWEETEST HILDA,--Can it be possible that you have been away a whole month, and that I have not written to you? I am awfully ashamed! but I have been so TOO busy, it has been out of the question. Papa decided quite _suddenly_ to come here instead of going to Long Branch; and you can imagine the _frantic_ amount of work Mamma and I had to get ready. One has to dress so _much_ at Saratoga, you know; and we cannot just send an order to _Paris_, as _you_ do, my dear Queen, for all we want, but have to _scratch round_ (I know you don't allow your subjects to use slang, but we DO scratch round, and nothing else can express it), and get things made here. I have a _lovely_ pale blue Henrietta-cloth, made like that rose-colored gown of yours that I admire so much, and that you SAID I might copy. Mamma says it was _awfully_ good of you, and that _she_ wouldn't let any one copy _her_ French dresses if she had them; but I told her you _were_ awfully good, and that was why. Well, then I have a white nun's-veiling, made with triple box-plaits, and a _lovely_ pointed overskirt, copied from a Donovan dress of Mamma's; and a dark-red surah, and oh! a perfect "frou-frou" of wash-dresses, of course; two _sweet_ white lawns, one trimmed with valenciennes (I _hate_ valenciennes, you know, but Mamma _will_ make me have it, because she thinks it is _jeune fille_!), and one with the new Russian lace; and a pink sateen, and two or three light chambrays. But now I know you will be _dying_ to hear about my hats; for you always say that the hat _makes_ the costume; and so it _does_! Well, my dearest, I have _one_ Redfern hat, and _only_ one. Mamma says I cannot expect to have more until I come out, which is _bitter_. However, this one is a _beauty_, and yet cost _only_ thirty dollars. It goes well with nearly all my dresses, and is _immensely_ becoming, all the girls say: very high, with long pointed wings and stiff bows. _Simple_, my dear, doesn't _express_ it! You know I LOVE simplicity; but it is _Redferny_ to a _degree_, and _everybody_ has noticed it.