32、December 7,1951

        MARKS & CO., Booksellers
         84, Charing Cross Road
             London, W.C. 2

                       7th December, 1951

Miss Helene Hanff
14 East 95th Street
New York 28, New York
    
Dear Miss Hanff
    You will be glad to know that the two
boxes of eggs and the tins of tongue have
all  arived  safely and once again we all
wish to thank you most sincerely  for your
extreme generosity. Mr. Martin, one of the
older members of our staff ,  has been on
the  sick  list  for  some  time  and  we
therefore let him have the lion’s share of
the eggs, one whole boxful in fact, and of
course he was delighted to get them.  The
tins of tongue look ver inviting and will
be a welcome addition to our larders, and
in my case  will be put on one side for a
special occasion.
    I  enquired  at  all  the local music
shops but was unable to get the Messiah or
Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in stiff covers
in clean,  secondhand copies,  and then I
found   they   were  available  from  the
publisher in new editions.  Their  prices
seemed  a bit high,  but  I thought I had
better get them and they have been sent by
Book Post a few days ago, so should arrive
any day now.  Our invoice, total ￡1/10/ =
($4.20) is enclosed with the books.
    We are sending you  a little gift for
christmas. It is linen and we do hope you
will not have to pay any duty on it.  We
will mark it “Christmas Gift” and keep our
fingers crossed. Anyway, we hope you will
like  it  and  accept  it with our sincere
best wishes for Christmas and  the  coming
year.
    My name certainly not of Welsh origin.
As  it  is  pronounced  to  rhyme with the
French word “Noel,” I think there may be a
possibility that it originated in France.
                         Yours sincerely,
                         Frank Doel
                         For MARKS & CO.

小卡片：

[CARD ENCLOSED WITH HEAVILY WORKED, HAND-
EMBROIDERED IRISH LINEN TABLECLOTH]:

            Christmas Greetings
                   and 
          All Good Wishes for the
                 New  Year
                   from

Geo.Martin    Megan Wells    W. Humphries
Cecily Farr    Frank Doel    J. Pemberton

注释：
lion's share 最大的一份
keep your fingers crossed 祝你好运！

🧐 好像这是 Frank 第一次给 Helene 写这么长的信。