"September the twenty-fourth, 1449,Brandy Hall
Dear cousin,
I hope you are in good health. Have you found a job? Have you made new friends? I take it old Barliman Butterbur has passed away, since you do not mention meeting him. Dad sends his greetings to Brandon, and asks after Nob and Bob. Your mother sent you a letter, did you get it? She was a bit worried, I think. We are all more or less all right. Eomer is still himself, I mean irritating, but I can manage. I wonder what happens when he grows too big for me to beat. Mom is making me a new dress, yellow again.
I leave most of the family news to your mother, she so loves telling them. But I will say that Kitty is engaged and that Tomkin has a son. Oh, and Elanor visited us last week. She cheered me up a bit.
Yours truly,
Eowyn Brandybuck''
'Well, mom, this is the last one I'm going to write. If you want me to change it, I'll just blot the words with ink.'
'This is just fine - except, what do you mean Elanor cheered you up? Now he will think you were down.'
'I was!'
'But that is not how letters like this are written. Also, you should not say "more or less all right".'
'I'm not going to lie to him. You should be satisfied I removed the "I miss you".
'All right, now seal it.'
Eowyn put the letter into the envelope and sealed it with her father's seal. The envelope she gave to her mother. She hoped Estella would not hold it against a light. Yesterday, she had opened the seams of an envelope and written on the inside, with very thin, watered ink, a secret message:
'I love you. I miss you. I will come to you. As soon as I get the address where I can find you. Yours faithfully, Eowyn.' Then she had glued the seams back together.