Letter of a Retainer

‘… a stream, and the entrance and exit for all the work-folk is at the side. But when we reach a fortunate issue and the house is established, then a balustrade will be added to the stairway and the porch with the balustrade of the small dining-hall will be made. The beams of the windows in the great dining-hall have to-day been partly fixed. The second water-cooler is to be roofed over to-morrow. The owners of the open plot in front of your gate-house are villagers; I will refer it to Heraclius to send to them. I send you the account from the beginning up to the 14th of Pauni written continuously but divided into four sections to be submitted to your guardian, in order that he, having fresh in his mind the prices of the fittings which he buys, may have no suspicion in matters relative to the account. For I wrote to you, my lord, on another occasion that nothing is being bought without his cognizance. I pray, my lord, that I may see your further advancement and ripe prosperity. Farewell, my lord. Pauni 20.’