From Emma Darwin to G. H. Darwin 27 June [1884]

My dear George

I have been looking for the arrival of the Brittanic but missed it some how—as I am sure it could not have been so late as this— I am very impatient for your first letter, & shall be much disappted if your marriage is not to take place very soon— We left Cam. in the midst of its bustle, & Sara & her ladies as well as C. Norton were much pleased with all the attention they had. C. Norton's speech was good— M^r Lowell's rather too joky— W^m was at Embley on Wed. to meet the Miss Longfellows. He was decidedly cheered by the prospect of pretty Miss Gilman being also of the party. Sara under orders from her D^r. is to stay very quiet for 3 months & avoid all fatigue— wh. as long as she has home cares & fidgets is I am afraid impossible   I wish she w^d make Theodora housekeeper as long as she is with them. She w^d do it well, & find it no burden— Alice B. C & Elinor called on Friday— Poor Alice looked so ill & stony I am sure she found it a great effort to come but she cheered up & talked to Laura afterwards. Elinor looks better & under Sir W. Jenner's orders finds it possible to eat solid food wh. she has long given up— He also gives her bromide which she is sure has done her good. She enquired m. about you— They have fixed on a site near Oxford for building.

We are apparently sitting in for a blazing hot summer. It was fine while we were at L. H. P. but so misty I never once saw the view to advantage. At C. much as usual, but her powers of walking are diminished. She was m. interested about you— She has promised to come here in the course of the summer, but her entire absence of nerve is a great obstacle to every thing she has to do— She w^d drive over (as Laura did, sleeping at Reigate) but she is afraid of sleeping on the ground floor & of being carried upstairs; also of being the last carriage in the Railway. Her life is kept cheerful by the presence of Margaret & the nice children, whose skylarking & enjoyment together made me envious for Bernard— I gather that he has been very happy w. Ellen while Frank went to Wurzburg to see Sachs; & I was very glad that she sh^d have an . . .

I want to hear how M^rs Jebb bore the voyage wh. began so well I hope it may have made her bear it better—

Please give my best love to Maude

Yours my dear George E. D—

I wrote to you at Reynolds Esq^r Erie about 10 days ago