From Emma Darwin to H. E. Litchfield [4 September 1880]

Dearest H.

I was dismayed to find that your riding trousers had been left out & some clothes for little Turners got in by mistake w. may wait of course. I send them off today, by wag. that meets Bessy— Your Vicarage sounds enchanting & the streams are what I shd like so much—(what an odious pen my new Stylo. is) I think I must change it). I sh^d have no fear about yr riding if you do not feel it the day after.

These 3 days have been blazers; but I get thro' them well by means of not walking a step. At Eliz. is utterly done up by the heat, w. her breath v. short & too languid to do any thing. To my surprize she has taken to her old dose of brandy & coffee, but I don't think she seemed any better yesterday.

Geo. is a little better but has no heart to go to Basset yet. He & F. called on the M'Lennans & found him sitting w shut windows & he had not been out of the house these 2 m. Geo. is q. out of patience with his constant talk of his health medecine &c— It is a blessing that they mean to stay at Hayes. I called at Petley's yesterday. Mrs Tomkin is a sensible mannered woman, w. 2 grandsons & a young woman, who I c^d not make out. She is sister to Prestwich the Geolog.

A pleasant letter of Horace is on its way to you. Effie has been so long w—out writing that Ida is uneasy. I can't believe any thing so horrid. Poor Mrs Parslow's nose is worse & she is going to London for advice. I am so sorry for her. Mrs Grantham I trust is going to die. She was better for a bit on her return home; but now has inflam. of bowels. B. rode all the way to R—bourne on Daisy & was fetched back. He enjoys the little boys v. m. now, & I hope they will come to us next week. The youngest is a picture. Our therm. has never been above 75—we ought not to be so hot. I am sorry the children don't come w. Sophy; but I don't wonder Margt & her Mother wd feel sad without them. We are so badly off for books & novels; & have only got Mark Twain, whose acct of the duels at ⁠⟨⁠⁠⟨⁠Heidelberg⁠⟩⁠⁠⟩⁠ made F. so uncomf. that we had to skip them. The combatants were all covered w blood & the surgeon was a full hour plaistering & sewing up 2 of the worst—when they returned to the company & played chess— Outram's Life written by a stupid man; but I believe we shall like what he writes himself.

It is striking that tho' high in command & successful & full of spirit, he disapproved so entirely of the policy of our meddling w. Shah Soojah & having any thing to do w Afghan & said we ought not to go beyond the Indus—& to think that 50 yrs after these men shd have got us exactly into the same mischief again. He seems to think we treated the Ameers of Sinde v. harshly— But it is a v. dull book as yet. I send Bessy to be burnt— Her visit must have been flattish w. Margt poorly—

They had better have put her off—

I must boast that the garden is in a blaze chiefly w. Petunias