17 May

I shall add this scrawl to my letter to let you know I received your most recent letter. Thank heaven it arrived before Dorothea did, for I promise you that if she thinks Robert is “always most truly a gentleman” I shall need to school my features not to betray myself by laughing.

Of course, I shall do my utmost to help her—and I can certainly sympathize with her reluctance to marry that odious man Schofield.

What a muddle it all is—and how I wish you were with me so I could be encouraged by the confidence and courage you put into those familiar words, “We must clearly do something.” Indeed we must—but what?

And thank heaven again that you weren’t riding in your usual neck-or-nothing fashion when you encountered that mysterious barrier in the grass. I smell Miranda behind that, plain as plain, and am very grateful for your charm-bags. Mind you keep your own close by you.

—K