My reply, given in the affirmative, resulted in the arrival of a
succulent-looking joint with a bill for leg of pork special 51/2 lbs.
at 2_s._ per lb. 11_s._
As the price too was rather special I returned the bill with the
following:--
My dear Mr. Gibbs,--What a rapturous piece of pork! Lovely in
life, and oh, how beautiful in death. I count the hours till 7.30
to-morrow.
I am truly sorry you couldn't read my letter with comfort. I have
derived great pleasure from yours. You appear to have a strong leaning
towards phonetic orthography which is very refreshing and seems to bear
the same relation to the generally accepted rules of the art that the
modern dynamic art (a favourite topic of mine, as you know) does to the
academics of the late nineteenth century.
When the proof-sheets of my book arrive I should be glad of your
assistance in going through them. My tendency, I think, is to
over-punctuate, and your proclivity would, I believe, counteract this.
_Mais revenons a nos moutons_ (_mutatis mutandis_, of course). The
specialist who superintends my diet allows me to eat pork at 1_s.
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