Here's good news from us, and may I ever hear the like from you. Amen, may it be His will! We are, indeed, as you say, united for all time, in this world and the other! I let you know, first, dear husband, that my brother Menachem Mendil and his wife Eva Gütel (may they live to see the days of the Messiah!) forgave me everything, and sent for me in a lucky hour to their daughter's wedding--Beile-Sasha's wedding. It was a very fine one, fine as fine can be! Praise God that I was found worthy to see it! There was every kind of meat, birds and beef; and fish--just fish, and stuffed fish--and all sorts of other dishes, beside wine and brandy--something of everything. And the whole thing was such a success--so elegant! And I myself cooked the meat, stuffed the fish, made the stew, sent up the dinner, and also saw to the marketing beforehand. I was house-mistress! I was waitress! I did not go merely to enjoy myself! I sold my stock of onions, made myself a dress of sorts, and went to my relations, agreeably to their wish, a whole week before the wedding; because there was no one to do the work; the bride was taken up with her clothes, she spent the time with the tailor, the shoemaker, and even the jeweller up to the very last minute. And poor Eva Gütel, my sister-in-law, has a cough. And they say her liver is not what it should be. So I was everybody--_before_ the wedding and _after_ the wedding, only not at the wedding, during which I felt very tired and done up. I sat in a corner and cried for joy, because I had been counted worthy to marry my brother's child, and--because she had such an elegant wedding! And I was not turned out in a hurry when it was over, either. Directly after it, my sister-in-law, health and strength to her, started to consult a doctor in Lublin as to which doctor she ought to see in Warsaw. Then she left for Warsaw and went the round of all the celebrated doctors. Thence she travelled to some other place to drink the waters--mineral waters they are called--and during the whole six months of her absence, I was mistress of the house. May the Almighty remember it to them for good and reward them! There was no cook--I did the cooking. And I drank delight out of it as from a well! In the first place, I had no time for thinking and brooding, and was thereby saved from going mad, or even melancholy! And where, indeed, should I have found it? Business, thank heaven, was brisk. The public-house is always full and the counter strewn with the gold and silver of Jews and Gentiles, lehavdîl. And my sister-in-law Eva Gütel's stuffed fish are celebrated for miles round, and there the people sit and eat and drink. And if ever I _began_ to think, and _wanted_ to think, Beile-Sasha, long life to her, soon reminded me of where I was! And she has sharp eyes, bless her, nothing escapes them! And so it went merrily on--and I was so overjoyed at being house-mistress there that once I spat blood--but only once.