DEAR GLADYS,--I am so glad that in spite of your many engagements--one
of them being an engagement to be married--you found time to write to
me again at last. You say little about your _fiancé_, but that, after
all, is of small importance. I approve of engagements in the abstract;
I know of no amusement more harmless nor more agreeable for a young
girl; and from my own experience I shall be delighted to assist you,
with any little hints in my power, towards making the course of true
love run as smoothly as possible.
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You have not described ARTHUR very clearly--(I am supposing, for the
sake of argument, that his name is ARTHUR; in your agitation you did
not tell me his name, but I think you are the sort of girl who would
be in love with the sort of man who would be called ARTHUR)--you have
not, I say, told me much about him; but from your letter I gather the
following suggestive facts:--