The 'Correspondence' Affair #8 - September 9, 1912 (Alexander to Millicent)

[avirra.livejournal.com]

From : London, England

September 9, 1912

My Dear Millicent,

To give you advance warning, I shall be departing in approximately two weeks for an assignment in the Persian Gulf region and am not likely to return from there until sometime in November. I will drop you a letter from that area if time permits, but I am unlikely to see any of your letters until my return. I will look forward to catching up on them on my return.

In theatre news, on the third of this month, I went to His Majesty's Theatre and saw a performance of 'Drake'. As you could probably guess, it is about Sir Francis Drake from Elizabethan times. Lyn Harding played the title role admirably. Lady Drake was portrayed charmingly by Amy Brandon-Thomas who I understand is the daughter of playwright Brandon Thomas. I recall seeing one of his plays, a bit of a far-fetched farce called Charley's Aunt. Far fetched, but quite amusing.

I was accompanied to 'Drake' by Evelyn Stagg, the sister of an old classmate of mine. A lovely young lady, but I fear she might well be the elder sister to one of your gigglers. She is a devoted follower of the theatre and apparently had thoughts of taking up the wig and paint herself at one point, much to her mother's dismay.

My mentor at the Ministry has hinted heavily that I should put serious effort into finding a suitable wife. Apparently there is only so far a man goes in the ranks as a bachelor as unmarried men are considered to be less serious. I suppose I can see that to a degree, but I cannot say that I am in any particular rush at this point in my life.

I must agree that the thought of holding one's nose to a grindstone would bring to mind pain more than conscientious work. There are any number of even stranger sayings in the world. The important part is that your head mistress is pleased with your overall progress. As to her admonition to apply yourself, what else could she say? That you're doing splendidly and can slack off? I daresay she wouldn't keep her position long if she took that tact.

As for your language studies, perhaps you can find a way to make your current studies more like your past ones. Find some that speak the languages fluently and ask that they speak them in your presence. If nothing else, the immersion with native speakers might help you get past the problems that you feel that you have in picking up the proper accents.

His Lordship was rather impressed by your school's production on Romeo and Juliet, though he did note that your Mercutio still didn't have all of her lines down. He did also mention that the pairing of you with Ermengarde was a bit odd on appearance, but carried off well regardless. Your Ermengarde must be one of those young ladies that bring out a fatherly feeling as His Lordship seemed to be quite concerned with her feelings.

I will sign off for now. Evelyn and I are dining tonight with her brother and his fiance'. They are planning to be wed around the Christmas season, I believe.

Yours,

Alexander

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Comments

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Chuckling...yeah haven't had my morning caffeine yet. The links are great...I still haven't quite gotten the knack of doing them that way. If I have multiple links, I ususally hide them behind a cut for brevity's sake.