When I handed it to him across the table, he dropped "Armida" the moment he looked at the envelope.

It was the answer to his remonstrance on the subject of the employment of women.
For Minna's sake, I opened Fritz's letter first.

It contained the long-expected lines to his sweetheart.

I went out at once, and, enclosing the letter in an envelope, sent Joseph away with it to the widow's lodgings before Mother Barbara's departure made it necessary for him to remain in the house.
Fritz's letter to me was very unsatisfactory.

In my absence, London was unendurably dull to him, and Minna was more necessary to the happiness of his life than ever.