Everything is quite in hand. The children's entertainment has been catered for while we are all under the same roof so they should be quietly content and Ursula will likely be abed for most of the holidays as she is getting very close to the due date. All things considered it seems increasingly possible that you and I will be each other's main companion for the majority of your time away from the castle, which I trust will be an agreeable prospect.

The only fly in all this is that mother wishes to visit, however I have successfully managed to put her back so far with only minor embellishments. I am in fact having certain parts of the wainscoting at Rigel House torn out and refitted, mother does not need to know that this cosmetic change is in fact not making the house uninhabitable. What I will say once she discovers we're Christmasing in London I'm not quite sure. Any thoughts? Another fog perhaps? I could claim we're hosting Ursula's family but I am slightly concerned word might get back to them and we shall actually have to endure them.