VERENA IN THE MIDST E. V. LUCAS _Other Books of_ E. V. LUCAS ENTERTAINMENTS THE VERMILION BOX LANDMARKS LISTENER’S LURE MR. INGLESIDE OVER BEMERTON’S LONDON LAVENDER ESSAYS ADVENTURES AND ENTHUSIASMS CLOUD AND SILVER A BOSWELL OF BAGHDAD TWIXT EAGLE AND DOVE THE PHANTOM JOURNAL LOITERER’S HARVEST ONE DAY AND ANOTHER FIRESIDE AND SUNSHINE CHARACTER AND COMEDY OLD LAMPS FOR NEW TRAVEL A WANDERER IN VENICE A WANDERER IN PARIS A WANDERER IN LONDON A WANDERER IN HOLLAND A WANDERER IN FLORENCE MORE WANDERINGS IN LONDON HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS IN SUSSEX BIOGRAPHY THE LIFE OF CHARLES LAMB A SWAN AND HER FRIENDS THE BRITISH SCHOOL THE HAMBLEDON MEN ANTHOLOGIES THE OPEN ROAD THE FRIENDLY TOWN HER INFINITE VARIETY GOOD COMPANY THE GENTLEST ART THE SECOND POST THE BEST OF LAMB REMEMBER LOUVAIN BOOKS FOR CHILDREN THE SLOWCOACH ANNE’S TERRIBLE GOOD NATURE A BOOK OF VERSES FOR CHILDREN ANOTHER BOOK OF VERSES FOR CHILDREN RUNAWAYS AND CASTAWAYS FORGOTTEN STORIES OF LONG AGO MORE FORGOTTEN STORIES THE “ORIGINAL VERSES” OF ANN AND JANE TAYLOR SELECTED WRITINGS A LITTLE OF EVERYTHING HARVEST HOME VARIETY LANE MIXED VINTAGES EDITED WORKS THE WORKS OF CHARLES AND MARY LAMB THE HAUSFRAU RAMPANT VERENA IN THE MIDST A KIND OF A STORY BY E. V. LUCAS AUTHOR OF “THE VERMILION BOX,” “OVER BEMERTON’S,” ETC. [Illustration] NEW YORK GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO FRANCES AND SIDNEY COLVIN TO THE READER The correspondence from which the letters in this book have been selected passed (with the exception of the last) during 1919. The last is a little later. Mr. Richard Haven, some of whose letters are to be found in a preceding volume, _The Vermilion Box_, is still a bachelor and still lives in Mills Buildings, Knightsbridge, but is doubtful if he can afford it much longer. Miss Verena Raby, the centre of this epistolary circle, is one of Mr. Haven’s oldest friends. Old Place, the ancestral home over which she now reigns, is near Kington in Herefordshire, on the borders of England and the Principality which provides us impartially with perplexities and saviours. Miss Raby is one of a family of nine, but none of the others neglect any opportunity of postponing letter-writing. Of these brothers and sisters, all save one—Lucilla, Nesta’s mother—are living, or were living when these pages went to press.