Letter from John Ruskin, Coniston, to Julia Marshall, 1879 December 26 : autograph manuscript signed.

Joanie [Joan Severn, Ruskin's cousin] asks him to give her love and to say how sorry she is not to be able to come up to the tarns today. He is writing on his own account to ask Victor [Marshall] (and Kathleen and the architect, if still with them) to come open the new dining room before leaving them lonely. Could they come on Monday? Joan tells him something grievous about their departure on the last day of the year, and it seems to him that dining at house on a packing up day is always a little dismal, which gives him more courage to ask.