From Emma Darwin to G. H. Darwin 11 April 1892

My dear George

This is my last letter to you I think. The same brilliant weather has lasted for a fortnight. Every thing wants rain, & the kitchen garden is perfectly bare–-

Horace & Ida came to Bry Sq^r on Sat night straight from Zurich— They took a bed carriage; but had to roused out of it 3 times once for the douane & twice for things that had gone wrong— They came to Bry. Sq^r— & had a little visit from Tom, very happy over his engagement to Miss Spring Rice. She had been on the point of going to keep house for her brother in Canada & she is gone all the same & he is to follow her later on— Everybody is delighted at it.

Horace came to see me in the evg— He looks thin & pulled down & he still has a good deal of the irritation of the skin wh. has been most tormenting all over him— Their D^r at first put them in despair by the extreme folly of his manner, also he some times sat for 1$\frac{1}{2}$ hrs, but they got to like him v. m. & & trust in him. He had been a student at S^t Barts & D^r Moore, who was here yesterday says he "is a very good fellow". They were very tired of Milan   They slept 2 nights at Zurich & Ida had again the genius to discover a mine of second hand books, so that their luggage was enormous topped up by a great pot from the chemist wh. he sent in as a present after they were in bed & wh. had to come by hand. D^r M. gives a v. good account of me & actually does not mean to see me till the end of May—

I have just had a long letter from R. telling me of the Islington dinner to L. & M^r Chatterton. M^r C. spoke 1^st, "then came Leo's twin & I was delighted to find how admirably he did it"— you shall see the letter— Your ch— came about 2 30 yesterday and all assembled on the lawn in a v. rollicking humour. We had out the bean bags but they were too dissipated for a regular game & only pelted each other, M. looking on w. m. interest. Ida came in late. She is quite set up in spite of all the bother—

Yours my 2 dear people

E. Darwin

Bessy went to see M^rs Jebb & found her q. well, but she had been knocked up for a week by her walk to the Grove. She was v. nice