some time.  My dear son, could you not learn to waltz before you come home?  It is considered very bad by some people, because you have to put your arm round the lady’s waist.  But I think it is very foolish for any body to set themselves up against the customs of society.  I think if it is permitted in Paris and London, we needn’t be so very particular about it in New York.  Mr. Dinks and Mr. Beacon both waltz, and I assure you it is very distingue indeed.  But be careful in learning.  Your sister Fanny says the Boston young men stick out their elbows dreadfully when they waltz, and look like owls spinning on invisible teetotums.  She declares, too, that all the Boston girls are dowdy.  But she is obliged to confess that Mr. Beacon and Mr. Dinks are as well dressed and gentlemanly and dance as well as our young men here.  And as for the Boston ladies, Mr. Dinks tells Fanny that he has a cousin, a Miss Wayne, who lives in Delafield, who might alter her opinion of the dowdiness of Boston girls.  It seems she is a great heiress, and very beautiful; and it is said here (but you know how idle such gossip is) that she is going to marry her cousin, Alfred Dinks.  He does not deny it.  He merely laughs and shakes his head—­the truth is, he hasn’t much to say for himself.  Bless me!  I’ve got to take another sheet.

“Now, Abel, my dear, do you know Miss Wayne?  I have never heard you speak of her, and yet, if she lives in Delafield, you must know something about her.  Your father is working hard at his business, but it is shocking how much money we have to spend to keep up our place in society properly.  I know that he spends all his income every year; and if any thing should happen—­I cry my eyes out to think of it.  Miss Wayne, I hear, is very beautiful, and about your age.  Is it true about her being an heiress?

“What is the news—­let me see.  Oh! your cousin, Laura Magot, is engaged, and she has made a capital match.  She will be eighteen on her next birthday; and the happy man is Mellish Whitloe.  It is the fine old Knickerbocker family.  Fanny says she knows all about them—­that she has the Whitloes all at her fingers’ ends.  You see she is as bright as ever.  It is a capital match.  Mr. Whitloe has at least five thousand dollars a year from his business now; and his aunt, Patience Doolittle, widow of the old merchant, who has no children, is understood to prefer him to all her relations.  Laura will have a little something; so there could be nothing better.  We are naturally delighted.  But what a pity Laura is not a little taller—­about Fanny’s height; and as I was looking at Fanny the other day, I thought how sorry I was for Mr. Whitloe that Laura was not just a little prettier.  She has such a nose; and then her complexion!  However, my dear Abel of course cares nothing about such things, and, I have no doubt, is wickedly laughing at his mamma at this very moment for scribbling him such a long, rambling letter.  What is Miss Wayne’s first name?  Is she fair or brunette?  Don’t forget to write me all you know.  I am going to Saratoga in a few days—­I think Fanny ought to drink the waters.  I told Dr. Lush I was perfectly sure of it; so he told your father, and he has consented.