From Emma Darwin to W. E. Darwin [15 February 1880]

My dear William

I am so glad Sara was not killed by her 2 journies so near together. I hope the next time she comes on a suddenty that she may manage to make at least 3 days of it. George appeared on Friday evg. having become so impatient of the place & also being very unwell that he cd bear it no longer. He was certainly a comfort & pleasure to Mr & Mrs M! Mr M. was extraordinarily better for 10 days for so, & they really think he may make a sort of recovery. They mean to move to the Riviera as soon as he can make the journey; but he has been confined to his room for some months so that it will be an awful undertaking. Mrs Whitmore & Isabel Akers will be with them, but their real stay & support is a little Scotch governess who thinks of every thing and does every thing in a quiet way—

We were quite puzzled by the multitude of letters Rose had on her hands. She really wrote 7 or 8 hrs every day & seemed agitated & absorbed; but on Tuesday mg she made a clean breast of it (& I wish she had done it sooner as it was gt relief to her) & told me she was engaged to Mr Franke— He came to see her at the Hotel w. Godfrey & Hope & there the dreadful deed took place—

She has long been attached to him (which I was always sure of) & they have corresponded more or less ever since the Mabel affair; but Rose never felt sure that he was not seeking her for Mabel's sake, & now she is quite happy— Her father of course does not like it & with the usual blindness of the male sex, I believe it was a surprize to him to find that Rose had been caring for him. But he entirely considers it as her affair. Godfrey has been seeing a great deal of Mr F. (who lodges in Cavendish St & way lays G. for a talk on every occasion) & he quite sympathises w. Rose as does Mabel most heartily & the other brothers— So now poor soul I hope she will have repose & happiness & begin to enjoy life again & above all be married soon. She has such an uneasy diffident mind that I am sure a long engagement will be very unwholesome to her. We have the house utterly full Flowers & Marshalls Litches & Margt Shaen— & I am unusually brisk & I realy believe I owe it to Parrishes' Chem. Food—which I have begun for 3 or 4 days & I feel m. attached to it—

Your my dear Wm. My best love to my dear Sara. I did enjoy my short talks w. her & you in spite of adverse circs— yrs E.D—

You need not write congrats as you are supposed not to know