Dear L
~
You’ll be pleased to know I’ve been conducting important research on your behalf regarding optimal hiding spots.
Behind statuary: ineffective, too exposed.
Beneath staircases: dusty and inhabited by spiders with territorial dispositions.
My personal recommendation? Befriend someone tediously verbose and stand near them at gatherings—everyone else will actively avoid your vicinity.
Speaking of gatherings, I’m desperately curious to know whether you’ve made any progress on dare number three? Have you yet found a suitable partner for that particular dare? If proximity were in my favor, I should very willingly offer my assistance—for purely academic purposes, of course.
I must admit, the atmosphere here has shifted rather dramatically.
We’ve had guests for a fortnight—all noise and motion and exhausting social requirements.
Now they’ve left, and the silence feels heavier than it should.
One guest in particular seems to have packed all the warmth among her belongings when she departed.
Strange how one person can alter the entire feeling of a place, isn’t it?
But enough of my philosophical musings. Your letters remain my favorite escape. Each evening I find myself rushing through obligations just to reach the moment when I can read your words.
Eagerly awaiting your next correspondence,
R
Dear R,
Behind statuary is perfectly adequate if one chooses the right statue. The trick is finding one with sufficiently dramatic robes.
This guest who apparently travels with warmth among her belongings—she sounds rather selfish, don’t you think? Taking all the atmosphere with her when she leaves? Very inconsiderate.
I find it curious that you have never mentioned her before.
I presume you have only recently met her.
In which case … this seems an insufficient amount of time to make such an impression.
Or perhaps she was just particularly … impressive?
I’m merely wondering what sort of person can affect an entire household’s ambiance so thoroughly.
Does she have other magical qualities besides temperature theft?
Regarding dare three: I accidentally told someone their cufflinks were ‘geometrically pleasing’ at a small gathering last night (my brother had spent the evening praising the virtues of ‘attractive symmetry’ in his latest diagrams).
The gentleman looked alarmed. I don’t believe I can count this toward dare number three.
Yours in mathematical compliments,
L
P.S. How does one pack warmth, exactly? Does she have special baggage? This seems like information I might find useful.