. You had encouraged me to hope
that it might be our future home; but I little dreamed it was to be
so soon, and that you were preparing such a charming surprise for me.
Don't be vexed with me, dearest, for finding out your secret. It made
me _so_ happy! It made the world seem like Paradise. Ah! I _knew_ why
everything was so _rose_-colored. It was so like _you_ to think of
that! Then everything is so elegant! You knew your Rosamunda's taste
for elegance.

"But Tulee summons me to supper. Dear, good, faithful Tulee! What a
comfort she has been to me in this lonesome time!"

* * * * *

"Now I have come back to the pretty little writing-desk you gave me,
and I will finish my letter. I feel as if I wanted to write to you
forever, if I can't have you to talk to. You can't imagine how
lonesome I have been. The new music you sent me was charming; but
whatever I practised or improvised took a solemn and plaintive
character, like the moaning of the sea and the whispering of the
pines. One's own voice sounds so solitary when there is no other voice
to lean upon, and no appreciating ear to listen for the coming chords.
I have even found it a relief to play and sing to Tulee, who is always
an admiring listener, if not a very discriminating one; and as for
Tom, it seems as if the eyes would fly out of his head when I play
to him. I have tried to take exercise every day, as you advised;
but while the hot weather lasted, I was afraid of snakes, and the
mosquitoes and sand-flies were tormenting. Now it is cooler I ramble
about more, but my loneliness goes everywhere with me. Everything is
so still here, that it sometimes makes me afraid. The moonlight looks
awfully solemn on the dark pines. You remember that dead pine-tree?
The wind has broken it, and there it stands in front of the evergreen
grove, with two arms spread out, and a knot like a head with a hat
on it, and a streamer of moss hanging from it. It looks so white and
strange in the moonlight, that it seems as if Floracita's spirit were
beckoning to me.

"But I didn't mean to write about sad things. I don't feel sad now;
I was only telling you how lonely and nervous I _had_ been, that
you might imagine how much good it has done me to see such kind
arrangements at Magnolia Lawn. Forgive me for going there, contrary
to your orders. I did so long for a little variety! I couldn't have
dreamed you were planning such a pleasant surprise for me. Sh