She must come and experience the, atmosphere of the past, as you are doing, on a visit.

As soon as it can be afforded I hope they will do that." Since the day of her engagement with the _Illustrated Age_ Elfrida had been writing long, affectionate, and prettily worded letters to her mother by every American mail.

They were models of sweet elegance, those letters; they abounded in dainty bits of description and gay comment, and they reflected as little of the real life of the girl who wrote them as it is possible to conceive.
In this way they were quite remarkable, and in their charming discrimination of topics.

It was as if Elfrida dictated that a certain relation should exist between herself and her parents.

It should acknowledge all the traditions, but it should not be too intimate.