Day Three, in which Poverty and Riches are compared

My dearest Jane —

I have so far seen fit only to amuse you with the visions that have shocked my eyes, yet I have not told you anything of substance about this odd place.

It is such a strange mix of richness and poverty, yet not poverty such as you and I are familiar. The people, young and old, are beautiful. There is no sign of pox nor rarely a glimpse of deformity. Their teeth are fine and white, their skin is clear and soft (yet the ladies would bake themselves in the sun until they redden like Iroquois!). There is no evidence of rickets nor goitres. There is a complete lack of thin, starv'd children (much the opposite, even the poorest seem very well fed indeed!). There is universal education paid by public subscription! And above all this goodness, this treasure of health and largesse, fortune heaped upon fortune, is the utterly altered situation of our own sex! 'Tis so miraculous I scarce believe it myself. Ladies have the vote! Indeed, a lady was once the Prime Minister. We can own property, be physicians, be adventuresses and travel in a mere few hours, not weeks nor months, to places as far away as Timbuktoo. Indeed, we can be anything we wish.

And the poverty? Why, one cannot believe the moaning that emits from these unimaginably fortunate beings — and the miserable circumstances in which they perceive themselves to be! They live in a Paradise of Luxury and Wealth that most of our neighbours and acquaintances could never envision in their wildest fancies, and yet the natives complain endlessly of their miserable estate.

I am most puzzled by it, and do long for your cleverness to help me fathom it all.

love and xxx from your very lost sister,

Day Two, in which impossibly high-heeled shoes are seen

My dearest Jane —

Leaving aside the respectability of the wearer (a creature whom, I assure you, is a relatively modest individual in this strange estate), whatever could she have been thinking when she selected this footwear?

This shoe offers little protection from the vagaries of weather which, alas, is still as unpredictable as our own. Worse, the extreme elevation of the heel causes the wearer to be pitched forward in such an exaggerated manner that her gait is changed into the clumping of a cart-horse!

And, believe me, my dear sister, this is by no means the most outlandish example of clothing I have seen. It is merely the first such that, since now I have begun to recover from the shock of arrival here, so reduced me to girlish giggling that I scarcely could smother it!

With much love and affection from your own

Day One, in which Miss Cassandra Austen awakens to a terrible noise!

My dearest Jane —

The most outlandish event has occurred, one impossible to explain, almost even to describe! I am quite at a loss for words, yet I must endeavour to put ink to paper to try and bring sense to it. This very morning I was jolted from sleep by the most astonishing din. It was as if all the pans in the kitchen had been dropped all at once and that mingl'd with the roar of many wild beasts! I was quite frightened by it all and leapt up from my bed only to find that it was not my bed nor even our own dear home! I find myself, by some unknown —perhaps unknowable— agent to have been dropped into a strange and alien land, though I am told that it is England, indeed it is London itself though in no manner whatsoever could it be construed as the London that you and I visited only last summer!

Dearest sister, how I long for you! If only you were here to help me organise my thoughts! I have not your clever wit with words, and my sensibilities are strained beyond measure ... so I have tried to sketch some of the unimaginably odd sights. P'rhaps when I am at last returned safely home, then together we can puzzle out what all this means.

Your loving sister,

P.S. The terrible noise, I am told (and more on this anon!) is the combined sound of many engines all working in concert. It is quite deafening and never ceases! The native peoples seem to insert bits of corks in their ears, with long wires a'dangling, p'rhaps an attempt to soften the sound? Must ask ...