though; and that was well worth being ill for. But
first of all I have to inform you what we all think is for your good in
the present crisis of your fortunes. (That means, now you are at school.)
Of course we are much afflicted to hear that you are not happy, and of
course we are not surprised to hear you do not like girls. (Nobody
could, except Egbert, and he doesn't really, only he pretends he does
because of that chap's sister last holidays. That's what has done for
Egbert, and it's a great pity, but what we must expect at his age, so
it's no use vociferating about it.) But to resume--we are all agreed
that the best thing you can do is to stop where you are until the period
of probation is over (that means till you've done being at school). You
see, it is only for three months at a time, and _we_ are here in the
holidays. It would be indescribable and unprecedented (which means
beastly, and awful, and things like that) if you had to live with girls
in the vacation too. But you are spared this, and it is your duty to be
thankful for every crumb of comfort that is to be substracted from the
situation. (Besides, you are a girl yourself; you can't get over that
though you mayn't like the idea, and you've got to go on being a girl
till you're a woman. It's something to feel that it can't last for
ever, and that in the end you will be able to be a woman, like Nurse and
Auntie Anna; and there's nothing the matter with them, is there?) If
your temporary indisposition only cures your spelling it will be money
well spent, for your spelling, my dear Babe, as father once said, is
both original and varied. So cheer up, and remember that Jill is but
a girl too, and that she is quite passable for one of that slack and
wayward sex. (Even when she is most like a girl I find I can bear with
her. For instance, when I lammented the other day that the rescue party
had been a frost, she said, "Why, you couldn't have bicycled unless it had
been, could you? Listen to the rain, now!") The post is going, so I must
infer the description of how Jill ragged the doctor till next time.
Meanwhile, cultivate the endurance for which English women have ever been
renowned; that is the result of the codgitations of the council we held
before the others went back to school.--Your affectionate brother,
Christopher Berkeley.

'P.S.--I'm not quite sure about the m's in lammenting; it looks rum
somehow, but there isn't a dictionary, so I must leave it. C.'