A favorite passage

"The governess entered.
'Put away your 'pouvoir' now, Kay,' she said. 'It's time for writing lesson. Take a piece of paper and write a nice letter to yourself while I do my books.'
Kay began his letter.

My dear Kay,
I hop you are quite well.
I hop your friends, the cats, are quite well.
I am quite well.
Please give my love to Ellen. I hop she is quite well. We have a nice dog here, but he is norty.

He sucked the end of his pen for a long time, but could think of nothing more to say, except that the norty dog was quite well."

--The Midnight Folk by John Masefield, published 1927