Corinna Lee to Peter Lymington:
Peter Darling,
A great many things have been happening. When you get to the end of this letter you will know why I am calling you “darling.” If you don’t like it, you had better cable right away, the same as you did about not being married to that Fay creature. First of all, you needn’t get all puffed up about her being in love with you, because she never thought about you at all. She was just head over ears in love with Car Fairfax, and she said she was married to you so as to keep him right there looking after her, which he wouldn’t have done if he hadn’t thought you wanted him to. Crazy-isn’t it?
Peter honey, everything has come right. Isn’t it just perfectly splendid? It all happened so quick I’m still taking long breaths and pinching myself to see if I’m awake. Cousin John and Car are friends again. Anna Lang has run away with a dreadful man called Arbuthnot Markham. And Car is going to marry Isobel, and I am going to marry you. So now you know why you are “Peter Darling.”
You see, Car got engaged to Isobel, so I couldn’t have him. And then I got your letter, and it did sound as if you were just rather fond of me, and then I felt terribly homesick and kind of alone in the world, so I sent Poppa a cable-a real, long cable-and I’m not going to tell you what I said. And Poppa cabled back-and I’m not going to tell you what he said either, but we’re engaged.
I hope you will like being engaged. Isobel and Car are perfectly sweet together. He looks at her as if she was the sun and the moon and the stars and everything beautiful you can think of. I don’t suppose you’d want to look that way at me. If you would there will be just time for you to write and tell me about it. Car and Isobel are getting married at the end of October and as soon as the wedding is over I am coming home. I was just going to write “I am coming home to you,” but then I thought I wouldn’t, because you don’t know about being engaged to me yet. Of course you will know it by the time you get this far-so perhaps I’ll say it after all.
Peter darling, I’m coming home to you.
Your
Corinna