From Emma Darwin to H. E. Litchfield [27 August 1879]

Dearest H.

The joyful telegram is just arrived ""Boxfound"" from Fr. You may imagine how miserable F. has been, thinking of all the things in his box, esp. Krause's M.S. It made our return home more dismal than it w^d nat. have been w. this storm of rain & the flower q. so ugly— Lettington is ill too as he was before— Bessy says the mistake was she & Pearce leaving as Pearce knew the phys. of all the boxes— I say F. must never go any where without Jackson to take care of him— We had a pleasant sit w. Uncle Ras. (Oh the heat of that room when I first went in) Bernard was quite quiet when we got into the cap & was popped into bed as soon as he arrived & asleep in 2 . m—

F. did not realize the misfortune till he got home & found that the box had not come w. Bessy last night. A most nice cordial note of Aunt C. saying how imposs. it was that Effie sh^d be brassed by the loss of Ida— She had long been expecting it so I am glad I wrote. Bernard enjoyed getting home & began drumming at once. Well it must blow itself out before Friday or you will not cross I trust. Don't you think Horace looks quite ill. Well Goodbye my dearest with my best love to R. I feel vexed that our entirely happy time ended w. such a bit of bad luck which was nobody's fault & w^d have signified not at all if it had been any other box—

Is not that a charming note of Ida— What a power of expression she has—