[fragment]
wait 20 minutes [missing text]<1> we had rather a fatiguing Journey but had the benefit of a most spirited & vivacious engine called the Charon,<2> which took us [illegible deletion] from Reading to London in an hour
Your affte Henry <3>
Notes:
1. The letter is torn in half, top half missing along with the end of this line.
2.The 'Charon' was one of the Firefly class of 2-2-2 engines on the Great Western Railway and was in service from 1840-1878. Given Constance's scepticism about the safety of railways, WHFT was either being mischievous, or else had forgotten that in Greek mythology, Charon was the ferryman who carried the dead in his boat.
3. WHFT used this closing and signature only in letters to his wife Constance.