With Most Gentle Wishes - Chapter 5

Author’s Note:

The more I write, the more I feel as though I have finally found Mabel’s voice, and the specifics of her personality. I hope you have picked up on the fact that she is an absolute chatterbox, but if not, this letter ought to do it. I absolutely adore her, and I am so glad to hear that so many of you do, too.

Dear Henry,

How pleased I am to hear that you are regaining your strength. I have not wanted to bring attention to it, but you have seemed increasingly optimistic across your letters, and I do hope that continues. I suspect soon you will even be able to return to the florist, to see all of your regular customers again will be a delight, I am sure. But do not be too hasty with your return to work, Henry. The young teacher in my village returned sooner than was wise after her recent illness and ended up even more unwell than she was to begin with, and that is without mentioning the harm that she exposed the children to - I heard that half of the class were absent the following week with her very same symptoms.

I thought of you just this morning, how you teased me in your last letter for my orderlyness yet profound clumsiness. I’d been going quietly about my tasks, tending to the house as a wife is inclined to do, simply going about my ordinary routine. I was placing the wash cloths back into their correct spot in the cupboard, when all of a sudden an entire basket of bedsheets and other clean laundry fell entirely on top of me! I cannot account for how it came about, nor can I explain it to you. There I was, weighted to the floor by a mountain of bedclothes, unable to even see. Before I had quite freed myself, I found myself laughing at the thought of how you would have taken it.

Arthur has been awfully busy recently. It seems that no matter how busy he is, how many meetings or business engagements he has, he is always able to become even busier. He is ever such a good businessman, Henry. I do think you would quite get along. One night this week he returned home awfully late, but upon walking through the door I was baffled to see him carrying an enormous crate of apples. He is not in the business of apples, nor fruit at all, and so this was an awfully funny sight. He explained that he spotted a neighbour who had been tending to his garden, and had far more apples from his tree than he knew what to do with. He explained that his wife, who passed only last year, would usually have made them into a crumble. Arthur said not to worry, and that I knew my way around the kitchen in just the same way as this neighbour’s late wife, and that I would be more than pleased to make him a crumble. The man was so grateful that he provided enough apples to make crumble for the entire village! I will not, of course, be baking to quite that extent, but I will be making one for myself, too. Isn’t that thoughtful of Arthur, to offer our service to our neighbour? Although, now that I am writing, I half suspect Arthur’s offer had far more to do with being able to get a crumble baked for himself.

Arthur has been tending to our garden, also. I had simply expressed one evening that I should much like to be able to enjoy our garden as I once did at home. There is a beautiful tree which sits at the bottom of our garden which I would very much enjoy reading beneath. I am not sure what tree it is exactly, but I am almost sure you would be able to identify it. I have enclosed one of the leaves, so that you might be able to help. Arthur and I pondered over what we might like to add to the garden, and we have been planning away for weeks. He is finally making a start, although it is currently unremarkable, still awfully messy with overgrown shrubs and nowhere to sit. I suppose it is an ongoing project.

I must say Henry, writing to you has become a pleasant habit of my days. I have packed up all of your letters into a box, in which I also store my pen, letter paper, and everything else which I might need when writing. Arthur mentioned that my clutter was of much annoyance, and so I thought it best to keep it all out of his way. I look forward to hearing from you soon, especially if you are able to identify my tree.

With most gentle wishes,
Mabel Harrington

If you wish to further immerse yourself in the world of Mabel and Henry, you can do so here, on my ever-growing Pinterest board.