From Emma Darwin to H. E. Darwin [March or April 1870]

My dearest Body

I have not felt leisure to write & have been rather headachy also. I heard from Elinor today one day later than yours & was v. glad to hear you were getting over y^r cold. Your acct of Lena is v. comical. She is quite original, w. of itself makes a person agreeable. We have got on v. comf. w. our girls. Bessy had Amy 2 days to herself before Lucy came & found her easy to get on with. Horace has been most devoted but not the least flirtatious. They have had nice rides w. Lucy on Flyer & Amy on Tommy who goes like an angel & Horace on his own mare.

Amy is remarkably grave & retiring but lights up if you speak to her & I am sure she enjoys her visit. The 2 go tomorrow Lucy to join Soppy in C. T., & at first Lucy thot she must go by an early train as Aunt C. for some mysterious reason thinks cabs less dangerous in the mg than the afternoon, but I persuaded her that the increase of dignity of being out into her cab by Horace w^d more than make compensation. She says ""I don't know what Mamma is afraid of so I can't tell."" So they will all go together. The weather has been most amiable not charming & on Sunday when they were walking little Ruck across Hotwood to Bromley Station they got soaked in their best clo. The Cecils found them sheltering in the lodge & asked them to the house w. they wisely declined & soon after impatiently walked home in the pouring rain. Amy not being on her allowance took the spoiling of her handsome dress w. g^t philosophy & the others took no harm. Since then it has done nicely for croquet & rides & walks. G. is going to meet G. Lusker at Ravens only he has a sore throat has given it up; however he is on the whole m. better. All the place looks so ugly w. brown laurels. Lady Salisbury 2 daughters & 1 son called in the pony carriage. Lady Marg^t sitting on the floor w. her legs outside. She is civil & nice but I had rather not have the trouble. (your letter just came in & one to Effie. It is pleasant to think having you my own dear. I am glad about Marie, tho' it will make your journey tiresome, but my reason really is that I have never quite got over pangs about Florence & this w^d have made it more difficult & expensive (Did I never tell you the cob tired F. so intolerably he c^d not bear it & Horace thought it unpleasant too.) Jenny has offended her pony, but I hope it is only the result of being out of spirits & that she will keep it. She is just gone thro' C. T. on her way to Lidwells. They say she looks thin & grave but talks of John a good deal & Uncle Harry reads over the old letters about him. They are beginning to care about the garden a little at Woodfield & have a new gardener.

To go back—we were much puzzled on Sat at the non arrival of Lenny & Ruck who were to have met Edwal ( I thot being the choir was not let to come). It turned out that there had been a row at some steeple chase between a policeman & some cadets (of course the policeman quite in the wrong) & his version had been believed & all exeats stopped, whereupon some mischievous youths got hold of the keys and locked all the pupils into the gymnasium & tumbled a cannon into a ditch. Then exams of cadets accusations of prevarication—the cadets refusing to answer & being expelled there & then & altogether the most disagreeable 3 days Lenny ever spent. Luckily he knew nothing or the alternative w^d have been telling what he knew or being expelled. He & Cardew had to keep sentry on Sat. night & see that nobody got out till 11.30 & then get up the gun. They were all kept in the enclosure till Tuesday afternoon when Geo. went to the Arsenal & Lenny & Ruck met him and the embargo was taken off. One of the officers proposed expelling Cardew & Darwin by way of putting a pressure on the others to tell the truth. I think Gen. Symonds was wrong to expell those cadets about any word of mouth altercation.

I have answered this note of Millicent & it will do till you come home, when we will ask them down for a day or so. I never saw Lucy so abandoned as she is now. She evidently enjoys her visit.I wish Soppy may be the same in London.

I shall only send you 4^d of Millicent as she is not worth 8^d—I am sure Aunt F. rather wanted to come on Sat. but F. must have some rest between visits. She is going somewhere I suppose she c^d not spend Easter Sunday at home I have asked her after 19^th— yours my dear E.D.