294 GBOEGE JOHN EOMANES 189» 



But there was such a lot of hocus pocus with 

 magnets that I was much disappointed. Even if 

 none of the girls were humbugging, I saw nothing 

 that could not be explained by suggestion. 



Por the doctors made suggestions while perform- 

 ing the very experiments which were designed to 

 exclude suggestion. 



To Mrs. Vernon Boys. 



New Hotel, Madeira : February 1, 1893. 



My dear Marion, — If I have your husband's 

 permission still to call you so — your kind letter has 

 been a great solace to me, after my ineffectual efforts 

 to supply a sonnet for the great occasion. For it 

 shows me that your Laureate is forgiven, and my 

 friend, what that friend has always been. Besides, I 

 am now lonely — as my brace of Ethels has flown 

 away — and therefore your affectionate words are all 

 the more welcome. 



This, however, is the last day of my solitude, as 

 Charlotte and Mytsie ought to arrive in a few hours. 



And now, having given you all my little news,, 

 let me pile up my congratulations as high as words- 

 can pile them. I heard all about the wedding from 

 many different sources, and there was but one opinion 

 as to the bride. I will not say what it was, but oh, 

 had I been there to see. It is so so good of you to- 

 miss us in the middle of it all. But it may have 

 been telepathy, because I was hard at work on my 

 abortive sonnet all that day. 



It is like northern breezes to read your account 



