o Grand Cairo_. The usage seems a little
rough, and I cannot help thinking that equal benefit might be
obtained through less violent means; but I suppose without the
previous fatigue the after-sensation would not be so enjoyable, and
no doubt it is that indolent after-sensation which the self-indulgent
Mahometans chiefly cultivate. I think you did right to disdain it.

'It would seem to me a matter of great regret that the society at
Bombay should be so deficient in all intellectual attraction.
Perhaps, however, your occupations will so far absorb your thoughts
as to prevent them from dwelling painfully on this circumstance. No
doubt there will be moments when you will look back to London and
Scotland, and the friends you have left there, with some yearning;
but I suppose business has its own excitement. The new country, the
new scenes too, must have their interest; and as you will not lack
books to fill your leisure, you will probably soon become reconciled
to a change which, for some minds, would too closely resemble exile.

'I fear the climate--such as you describe it--must be very trying to
an European constitution. In your first letter, you mentioned
October as the month of danger; it is now over. Whether you have
passed its ordeal safely, must yet for some weeks remain unknown to
your friends in England--they can but _wish_ that such may be the
case. You will not expect me to write a letter that shall form a
parallel with your own either in quantity or quality; what I write
must be brief, and what I communicate must be commonplace and of
trivial interest.

'My father, I am thankful to say, continues in pretty good health. I
read portions of your letter to him and he was interested in hearing
them. He charged me when I wrote to convey his very kind
remembrances.

'I had myself ceased to expect a letter from you. On taking leave at
Haworth you said something about writing from India, but I doubted at
the time whether it was not one of those forms of speech which
politeness dictates; and as time passed, and I did not hear from you,
I became confirmed in this view of the subject. With every good wish
for your welfare,--I am, yours sincerely,

'C. BRONTE.'

TO MISS ELLEN NUSSEY