Please pardon my tardy acknowledgement of your notificationsEditorial Note: These notifications are not extant. to Miss Smith (now Mrs. Costelloe) and myself. You "mixed us up". (Miss Dike was not the one who was married, and I am Miss Dike - "the lovely friend" being Miss Smith. That friend is now abroad and has had such an eventful Summer that her interest in Christian Science has somewhat subsided; then too she was not - probably because of her love affair, not as deeply bitten as I.

My Summer has also been a gay one but, inspiteCorrected:in spite of derision from my friends, and awful intellectual uncertainty on my own part, together with physical suffering (for my dyspepsia and other uncomfortable beliefs returned to my mind in full vigor) I kept to my decision - made in the first flush of Enthusiasm last Spring, to investigate the thing to the bitter end. If true if [?] Unclear or illegible  Heaven on Earth, so I felt [?] Unclear or illegible  to hold on to it till I [?] Unclear or illegible  beyond a question if it were [?] Unclear or illegible  false. I read and [?] Unclear or illegible  your booksEditorial Note: Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy almost every day [?] Unclear or illegible  I had to steal the time [?] Unclear or illegible  and the jolly Mountain party with which I was. The results of all these months of (blessed now) grapple is that I am in wonderful health. - never in my life so good - and also I am a different creature morally and spiritually and I am O! so happy. "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you"Luke 17:20 ¶And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Luke 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. .

Now let me tell you why I can't take your course at present. My father simply refuses me permission. He is one of the most loving fathers in the world, but he still pronounces the thing an arrant humbug. He simply won't talk about it, and the thought of my being willing to spend twoEditorial Note: $200.00 in 1885 is the equivalent of $5,271.29 in 2019. or three hundred dollarsEditorial Note: $300.00 in 1885 is the equivalent of $7,906.93 in 2019. on a "wicked chimera" makes his business soul writhe in horrowr. To him Tthat unknown quantity - "Mrs Eddy" is synonymous with Fraud. I say all this so frankly to you because I know it will make you laugh. It makes me laugh altho.Expanded:although at first it made me cry. You know Geo. Mac DonaldEditorial Note: George MacDonald (1824-1905) was a Scottish minister, author, and poet. says "But the fun intil a thing does na weir oot ony mair nor the poetry nor the trowth intil't."Editorial Note: This quotation is from Chapter V of Donal Grant by George MacDonald. and the fun in Papa's attitude toward you and the "whole nonsense" as is as irresistible to me, as the poetry and truth of your life and teaching. Papa will laugh too someday but the time is not ripe for that yet. Now. I could not take the Course this Fall because I could not get the money, and I can notCorrected:cannot take it for two years because I am promised to live the life my dear Father and Mother wish me to live for that length of time. After the two years have passed I can then "kill myself my own way" Papa says. I can go to that woman in Boston &cExpanded:et cetera &cExpanded:et cetera; of this I have written agreement, so please do not let anything happen to yourself before that time for my sake as well for the many, many other pleople' [?] Unclear or illegible s' sakes. Please don’t, because it would be a most terrible blow to me if I could not take the Course with you. I can't begin to tell you how in earnest I am that my first real instruction shall come from you.

Next Spring we go to Europe for a delightful six month's or year's travel and I cannot bear to think of not taking the Course before that going. But alas! I have not the money.

Well I'll study on by myself till the good time comes. and learn all I can.

I [?] Unclear or illegible sn't it a glorious thing to have a centre to one's life, because then, all things work together for it? and These two years will yield me patience, and then a wider culture besides to use later!! Still O! how I wish I could take the Course before going in the Spring.

Please pardon me, if this letter is too informal. Am I wrong in feeling that somehow I can't be formal with you? I dont Corrected: don't believe I am.

Thanking you again for remembering us -