of giving offence but as a married woman you must not relinquish a certain dignity and respect which is due to your station and which can only be upheld by well-regulated prudence and discretion on your part. I shall be sorry to cause you to leave Wellington sooner than your inclinations would suggest but ever since you nearly suffered death by Mrs Kelham's ball I have taken a perfect dislike to such entertainment and beyond the common courtesies of life and in private life such entertainments shall never be encouraged by me. When I think of myself that my whole earthly enjoyment might have vanished through that piece of absurd ill-judged affair amusement do you wonder that it should rouse a little anger on my part and cause me firmly to admonish you against associating much with the projectors of such dangerous follies. Give my kind love to Papa & tell him I will write from Hawkes Bay. Mr Williamson writes to his wife by his native Bobby who says he will call with my letter. The Wairarapa is rather a pretty place. A good deal of plain, lake & forest with rising grounds sufficient to cause an agreeable diversity. On one of these elevated mounds Mr Bidwell's cottage stands and at a