From W. E. Darwin to Emma Darwin 9 February [1890]

My dear Mother

It is an age since I have written to you, but for the last month all my energies have been taken up by the issue of our Bank shares, and the letter writing & journeys to Portsmouth which it has entailed   now the worst is over & the issue has been very successful, the advantage of it is, that if any of us dies our shares have a market value, & our executors can easily sell them. We were delighted to have so good an account from Ida as to Horace's condition, getting down stairs is a great step forward, it is also a good sign that she does not think that there is any need for a change. I was sorry to hear from Geo. that he had another slight fever attack, but he added that it soon fizzled out.

As the Horaces are not coming to us we are to begin the drawing room next week, it has never been done up yet since it was built. We have settled the paper & ceiling, so there will only be worry of turning out & storing away all the things, which will be no joke as we are cluttered up with furniture. We have asked Sally to come to us for the summer, but have no idea whether she will be spared, it a good deal depends on Lilly's state of health & her hay fever, & we shall not hear for some time what is settled. I went on Friday & slept at Brighton so as to go & see Mr Rich yesterday on my way back, as I wished it to appear as if I was naturally coming from Brighton. I found the poor fellow very feeble, he was 86 last month & said that he had hoped to die last spring, he can hardly dress himself or come down stairs, & dreads being obliged to have a nurse. He is always entirely alone except that his sister comes to stay with him occasionally, she is coming next week. It is very pathetic the way in which he keeps up his spirits, he says that he never mopes or is on, bad spirits, he is very deaf & weak & his heart is, but of course he has other troubles, he said with a smile that he was slowly sinking like the coast of the Baltic sea, & that he wanted rest & the next time we met we should be sitting on clouds, he talked about virgil compared with modern poets & was indignant that they had buried Browning in the Abbey, he asked with great interest after you & all the boys & was very sorry to hear of Geo. & H. being so much out of order. I had a basin of soup with him at luncheon, but I did not stay longer as talking I saw was tiring him, I promised to go & see him again when in the neighbourhood, he said that on looking at the family bible he found that in his grandfather's time there 30 of his family, & that now he & his sister were the last of the family, Sara, I am glad to say, is pretty well, she actually went to a village concert in the North Stoneham schools last night & brought Miss Beadon home who was the prima donna, & she is none the worse today