LETTERS OF JANE AUSTEN
Pray mention the name of Maria Montresor’s
lover when you write next. My mother wants to
know it, and I have not courage to look back
into your letters to find it out.
I shall not be able to send this till to-morrow, and you will be disappointed on Friday; I am very sorry for it, but I cannot help it.
The partnership between Jeffereys, Toomer, and Legge is dissolved; the two latter are melted away into nothing, and it is to be hoped that Jeffereys will soon break, for the sake of a few heroines whose money he may have. I wish you joy of your birthday twenty times over.
I shall be able to send this to the post to-day, which exalts me to the utmost pinnacle of human felicity, and makes me bask in the sunshine of prosperity, or gives me any other sensation of pleasure in studied language which you may prefer. Do not be angry with me for not filling my sheet, and believe me yours affectionately,
Miss Austen, Godmersham Park,
Faversham.
XVII
My dear Cassandra,
I will endeavour to make this letter more worthy
your acceptance than my last, which was so
