[Charlotte M. Yonge, Victorian novelist.] Autograph Letter Signed ('C M Yonge') to 'My dear Tory' (her cat?).

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, on lightly aged and worn grey paper. The only reference to a 'Tory' in Christabel Coleridge's 'Charlotte M. Yonge, Her Life and Letters' (London, 1903) is to one of Yonge's two kittens, born on the Queen's birthday in 1900. In a letter to Coleridge, 17 July 1900, she states that 'Tory is banished', and on 1 August 1900 she reports that she has seen 'Tory in his new abode - also stepped on him'. It is therefore reasonable to assume that the letter is a playful one, addressed to his new owner. It begins: 'My dear Tory, | I will try to put your Orphanage into the Correspondence as it is Short - I was just setting about sending out my own questions, I think you will like the ecclesiastical one only I am afraid it takes books | The Autobiography of the youngest of a family'. She asks him to 'Compare the characters and careers of Sst Ambroses and Bp Ken'. The letter concludes with news of 'Miss Mackenzie', who has left Yonge 'after a visit of ten days. She told me that she had been seeing you - I am afraid London does not suit you as well as Yorkshire'.