o _me_. Guests of course must be thought of
before children; and I'm sure in these warm nights the beach
will be quite good enough for _you_. If you _did_
feel a little chilly, of course you could go into a
bathing-machine, which everybody knows is _very_
comfortable to sleep in--you know they make the floor of
soft wood on purpose. I send you seven kisses (to last a
week) and remain

Your loving friend,

Lewis Carroll.

Christ church, Oxford, _October_ 28, 1876.

My dearest Gertrude,--You will be sorry, and surprised, and
puzzled, to hear what a queer illness I have had ever since
you went. I sent for the doctor, and said, "Give me some
medicine, for I'm tired." He said, "Nonsense and stuff! You
don't want medicine: go to bed!" I said, "No; it isn't the
sort of tiredness that wants bed. I'm tired in the
_face_." He looked a little grave, and said, "Oh, it's
your _nose_ that's tired: a person often talks too
much when he thinks he nose a great deal." I said, "No; it
isn't the nose. Perhaps it's the _hair_." Then he
looked rather grave, and said, "_Now_ I understand:
you've been playing too many hairs on the piano-forte." "No,
indeed I haven't!" I said, "and it isn't exactly the
_hair_: it's more about the nose and chin." Then he
looked a good deal graver, and said, "Have you been walking
much on your chin lately?" I said, "No." "Well!" he said,
"it puzzles me very much. Do you think that it's in the
lips?" "Of course!" I said. "That's exactly what it is!"
Then he looked very grave indeed, and said, "I think you
must have been giving too many kisses." "Well," I said, "I
did give _one_ kiss to a baby child, a little friend of
mine." "Think again," he said; "are you sure it was only
_one_?" I thought again, and said, "Perhaps it was
eleven times." Then the doctor said, "You must not give her
_any_ more till your lips are quite rested again." "But
what am I to do?" I said, "because you see, I owe her a
hundred and eighty-two more." Then he looked so grave that
the tears ran down his cheeks, and he said, "You may send
them to her in a box." Then I remembered a little box that I
once bought at Dover, and thought I would some day give it
to _some_ little girl or other. So I have packed them
all in it very carefully. Tell me if they come safe, or if