From W. E. Darwin to Emma Darwin 30 October [1892]

My dear Mother

I hope that you have now quite recovered from the journey, the next time you must not be so larky, but must sternly go to bed after you arrive. It is a great thing that the journey does not worry you but only naturally tires you. The Sedgwicks reached here the night before last in pouring rain & as it was pitch dark & they had a driver who was a stranger they went roaming round Basset some time before they found the house. They seem all very well, & the two little girls are charming, Lucy their mother has quite recovered her health & looks very blooming, & Arthur looks much better from being so much thinner. My first day at L. H. P. was glorious, a most per- autumn day & we had a long walk morning & evening. I walked a good deal with Meggy & found her very pleasant & intelligent: the next morning I went off in pouring rain, & it rained steadily for the next 36 hours or so. I was very sorry to see Hen. looking poorly & pale, & she seemed quite unwell the morning that I left, so that I am anxious to hear how she is: it is very disagreeable to be unwell in another's house, so that I hope that she has managed to reach home, as she gave up Abinger. Sophy & Margar were very friendly, & Sophy has quite come out & appears quite like a human being: they took me to see the 30 acres they had bought to prevent villas being built, it seems an extravagant thing to do, but it is such a lovely site that its value shoud go on increasing.

I spent most of my time in looking at Wedgwood ware, & reading old letters of old Josiah, which I found very interesting, & which certainly shoud appear in any new life of him. The whole house looks polished up, & the eastern carpet in the drawing room is very nice, I tried to make them buy a nice Chippendale cabinet which we had fallen in love with at Brighton for their wedgwood ware, which they now leave at the mercy of the housemaid, & they talked of running down to Brighton to look at it, fancy Aunt C. thinking of such a thing. Sara is enjoying this visit very much, & is always doing something for the little girls, Grace is not much altered in these four years, but Susy I should hardly have known, she is a very keen bright little thing, & I think should be pretty. Arthur & Lucy are now going out for a stroll, so I will say goodbye.

I was very glad to see Leo's letter, as he seemed pretty cheerful, I think Eliz. takes too serious a view of the risk of the petition.

Sara send her best love, please give my love to Bessy, I am dear Mother your affectionate son, | W. E. Darwin