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Elisina Grant Richards to Mildred Barnes Bliss, January 23, 1912

Paris.

January 23rd 1912.Tuesday.

Dear Mildred,

Just about Christmas-time, when your kind little note and good wishes reached me, we had our faithful cook and mentor JulieJulie Mendiboure, William Royall Tyler's nanny. in bed with a cold and influenza. In the absence of a substitute with proper credentials, Royall and I undertook the housework. It happened that a great friend of mine had come to Paris at that time, to see me, and alone, so that I had to play Cinderella at night and hastily exchange the broom for the fan, or the sceptre, if you like it better. This strained my powers a little, and I feel I am only just emerging into the normal, after a ten days’ visit from my sister. So please forgive me for having allowed the date which custom assigns for legitimate congratulations to go by. I wish you well, and with all my heart, now and always. Let me tell you so again, and confess that I thought of it particularly on January 1st with a kind of reliance on telepathy to transmit my thoughts to you.

We had a cheerful Christmas and a happy New Year; and your Godson is daily improving and waxing in size and strength. We have been working hard, and in about a fortnight, Royall is going to London to deliver the manuscript of his first volume into the hands of his chief.Sir Henry Churchill Maxwell Lyte (1848–1940), a British archivist and historian.

I hope you will soon let us know when we may hope to see you. You mentioned March in your last letter. It seems very long dear Mildred, since I first entertained a reasonable hope of seeing you, and my disappointments are beginning to sadden me. Come soon, please, so that I may correct my picture of you and fix it forever.

My best love to you and kindest messages to Robert

Yours always,

Elisina

 
Associated People: Linetta Richardson; Royall Tyler
Associated Places: Paris (France)