Blindingham Hall
August 8th 1852

While I wrote to Boo earlier today, I told her I wished to find a new avenue of employment for Josiah. The very act of writing has made me think. I am so fond of Boo and so familiar with her that I feel shy using formal letters to communicate with her. Sometimes I wonder how it would be if I could be in instant contact with her even though she is so far away. I attended a lecture in the Village last month on the Wonders of Modern Science. I would not normally attend such a dreary sounding event but I wished my presence to be noted by certain persons I knew would be there. Luckily I did manage to spend a good deal of the lecture catching the eye of some people of influence in village matters. The lecture dealt with findings of a Mr Faraday and others whose names I cannot now recall. Mr Faraday has apparently spent twenty years – goodness me – working on something I did not grasp but which made me think of an idea. I dreamt of distant speech. How lovely it would be if I could be in touch with Boo, or anyone else for that matter, without the necessity of a boy, a postbag and a horse? What if there were a machine that could allow me to speak to her direct?

I shall speak to Josiah at breakfast and ask him if he could put his entrepreneurial mind to such a marvel!