Many, many thanks! It is only my neuralgic foot. It has given me such a sharp twist this time that I have not been able, in its extreme sensitiveness, to put any covering upon it except scalding fomentations. Having viciously bubbled and blistered it in all directions, I hope it now begins to see the folly of its ways. Affectionately ever. P.S.--I hope the Sun shines. [Sidenote: Mrs. Bancroft.] GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT, _Thursday, May 31st, 1870._ MY DEAR MRS. BANCROFT,[36] I am most heartily obliged to you for your kind note, which I received here only last night, having come here from town circuitously to get a little change of air on the road. My sense of your interest cannot be better proved than by my trying the remedy you recommend, and that I will do immediately. As I shall be in town on Thursday, my troubling you to order it would be quite unjustifiable. I will use your name in applying for it, and will report the result after a fair trial. Whether this remedy succeeds or fails as to the neuralgia, I shall always consider myself under an obligation to it for having indirectly procured me the great pleasure of receiving a communication from you; for I hope I may lay claim to being one of the most earnest and delighted of your many artistic admirers. Believe me, faithfully yours. FOOTNOTES: [32] On the death of his second wife. [33] Of the Readings. The intention was carried out. Mr. Kent's book, "Charles Dickens as a Reader," was published in 1872. [34] No doubt Charles Dickens intended to add the Reading Books to the legacy of his MSS. to Mr. Forster. But he did not do so, therefore the "Readings" are not a part of the "Forster Collection" at the South Kensington Museum. [35] A new collective edition of "Kent's Poems," dedicated to his cousin, Colonel Kent, of the 77th Regiment. [36] Miss Marie Wilton. TWO LAST LETTERS. [Sidenote: Mr. William Charles Kent.] [Illustration: Gad's Hill Place, Higham by Rochester, Kent.[37] HW: Wednesday Eighth June 1870 HW: Dear Kent Tomorrow is a very bad day for me to make a call, as, in addition to my usual office business, I have a mass of accounts to settle with Wills. But I hope I may be ready for you at 3 o'clock. If I can't be--why, then I shan't be. You must really get rid of those Opal enjoyments. They are too overpowering: "These violent delights have violent ends." I think it was a father of your churches who made the wise remark to a young gentleman who got up early (or stayed out late) at Verona? Ever affectionately Signature: ChD] [Sidenote: Mr. John M. Makeham.]