From Emma Darwin to W. E. Darwin [4 August 1879]

My dear William

As you are in your solitude I will write to you first & you can find it on to Sara— I really think your stay at Droitwich has been quite a pleasant bit of idleness & our weather for nearly a week was delightful— I am glad you got that pleasant excursion We (viz F & I. Bessy & Bernard) spent Friday in Q.A. St; but it was so hot it rather killed me. Eras. is so solitary now he liked having us. On Sat. we got into our comf. room at Euston (R. & Hen joining us.) at nine o 'clock & ought to have reached Coniston at 6; but owing to being Sat. before Bank Holiday every thing was delayed & when we reached Carnforth we found the Coniston train c^d wait no longer & so we had 2 hours to get thro'. It was luckily not raining & we got into a clean public house & had tea—& arrived at our Hotel at 9— I was more dead than F. & we were both knocked up yesterday. We sh^d have been quite killed but for the saloon carriage— Bernard is a capital traveller & was neither cross nor ennuied— The rail across Morecomb Bay is v. grand & striking—the immense expanse of sand—flanked by such fine mountains.

We are v. comf at this quiet Hotel & have 2 sitting rooms— The Lake can only be called hideous in this weather, black & stormy & dark green banks— The m^ts over the immediate banks are grand & the walks up the vallies are endless & beaut.

Victor Marshall & our Bill Marshall called yesterday & the rest are gone to call there; but I thought they w^d be enough without me. [Ite] has been most kind & offers his carriage! A little steamer plies on the Lake w. will suit Bernard. Frank comes this evening.

Laura, under Ida's orders, tells Horace he must do nothing until 3 months (from the beginning) are over— Nothing can be more useless than T.H's conduct— He has no intention of stopping the marriage; but I believe he knows that all his family (Farrer & Erskines) will disapprove so utterly of it, some on worldly grounds & some on religious, that he wishes to be able to say that he has opposed it. Effie & Hopes chief feeling in the matter is that it is a disapp^t & not what they wished & hoped; but Effie finds the present state of things so uncomf. that she wishes the engagement to be open. But her chief grief is the losing Ida— They all seem to me to leave Ida's own feelings a good deal out of the question; & Horace's entirely so—

I don't want to see any of them at present as I feel my back w^d soon be up— Horace is wonderfully patient & good tempered & what is the greatest blessing, up to his work, w. is prospering.

He keeps up a rapid corresp. w. Laura w. is his greatest comfort. I am afraid Leo can't come— I wish he could.

yours my dear | E . D—

I shall do all I can in the way of Larks weather permitting—

My love to Miss Ashburner I am glad she is gone to Mrs Nix & I shall like to know how it turns out