Of course I'm not suggesting you should allow yourself to be
denuded in the cause (like Lady GODIVA), but I daresay you have
some odds and ends stowed away that you would contribute; for
instance, that delightful old topper that you were wont to go to
church in before the War, and that used to cause a titter among
the choir--can't you get the moths to let you have it? Neckties,
again. Where are the tartans of '71? Surely there may be some
bonny stragglers left in your tie-bins. And who fears to talk of
'98 and its fancy waistcoats? All rancour about them has passed
away, and if you have any ring-straked or spotted survivors, no
doubt they would fetch _something_ in a good cause. I hope you
will see what you can do for

Yours very truly,

HENRY J. FORDYCE.

Petherton's reply was brief. He wrote:--

SIR--Had Miss Gore-Langley chosen a better channel for the
conveyance of her wishes I should have been only too pleased to do
what I could to help. As it is, I do not care to have anything to
do with the affair.

Yours faithfully,

FREDERICK PETHERTON.

But he was better than his word, as I soon discovered. So I wrote:--