Galgenberg, Aug. 7th.
Dear Mr. Anstruther,--It is pleasant of you to take the trouble to
emulate our neighbor and tell me that you too think me intelligent. You
put it, it is true, more elaborately than he does, with a greater
embroidery of fine words, but I will try to believe you equally sincere.
I make you a profound _Knix_,--it's a more expressive word than
curtsey--of polite gratitude. But it is less excellent of you to add on
the top of these praises that I am adorable. With words like that,
inappropriate, and to me eternally unconvincing, this correspondence
will come to an abrupt end. I shall not write again if that is how you
are going to play the game. I would not write now if I were less
indifferent. As it is, I can look on with perfect calm, most serenely
unmoved by anything in that direction you may say to me; but if you care
to have letters do not say them again. I shall never choose to allow you
to suppose me vile.
Yours sincerely,