From Fanny Allen to H. E. Darwin 19 May [1868]

You are a dear precious little soul! my dear Henrietta for sending me such a pleasant detail of your ball & visit at Pythouse.—I hope Walcot(?) or whatever be its right name may prove as pleasant a visiting place, as the Wiltshire one, though I suspect Lincolnshire is not so nice & livable a county as Wiltshire  every account of Lena is a pleasant one, & gives me the conviction that Edmund has made a wise choice. My dear Eliz^th. left us this morning a, little before 9—I was not down then purposely not to interfere with her time, of departure, for I was up long before 7—& she had Crab only at her breakfast table, where I found him 5 minutes after she left. I expect she will have a hot day in the rail carriage but it will soon be over, & you will see her at Down on Wednesday, to give her own report of herself—she has taken with her abundance of flowers from Miss Robson's garden which will make her London room gay—though probably the best part to Miss Vaughan—Julia Smith dined with us yesterday & gave a better account of poor Patsy, every way, her mind was more present, & she felt pleasure at seeing Mad^e Bodichen who arrived yesterday morning a good deal fatigued with her journey—I think Mad^e B. was always the one of her family that she liked best—I thought Julia looked faded since I last saw her two years ago—Eliz^th. had not seen her since long, long, ago, at Betley, in her singing days. which Julia recalled to me, & Eliz^th. was surprised to find her younger than she was—I thought she looked rather older—Alice came up in the evening for a few minutes to get a few light books for Mad^e Bordechin, & we gave her "Violet la danseuses" which she will consider light enough—I made Alice take the life of my Hero "Robert Annan"—& I hope she will be as enthusiastic about him, as I am—he was a glorious soul! a (L^t) Paul, in some degree! it is only a small 6 ^d book—& if Alice, is fired by the reading I hope she will impart it to you: () the ardour—Eliz^th. does not I think like it, so the fire does not catch ever one—Alice, looks to me, much paler than she was last year—I hope it is not a sign that her health has been giving way. What would her family do for her ready aid in that case!—I hope she will revisit the Swiss mountains—where you also are going, are you not?—Have you not promised "Uncle Harry" a visit?— Woodfield is in great beauty—& the walks by the side of the water & on the hill of gorse, would lure you I am sure, & Harry would secure you a daily ride—which was not your fate in a time gone by—if you were at Woodfield I would try to lure you by all, the lime twigs, in my power—so dont forget your pro-mise to Harry—Allen W. is coming to me tomorrow to shirk a dinner feast at Wfield,& on Thursday the 2 Wfield girls are going up to a ball at Cardiff  I hope your ball turned out a pleasant one—Helen mentioned in a letter lately that Ernest, is "a most beautiful dancer"—I hope you had him for a partner—I should be glad to hear that Hope would return from Paris. Ettie would be enough to break the parental tête á tête, & aid her mother to get to Capera, & foreign travel does not seem to agree with Hope—so now good by my dear Henrietta my warm thanks for your thought of me—

my best love to your mother & father affec^ly. your's | F. Allen

I am to day very busy in the garden alas for no one!