From Emma Darwin to H. E. Litchfield 4 December 1881

Dearest H.

As I wrote such a low acct of us I may as well tell you that we are prosperous— F. is better & able to enjoy the talk—

The dinner was very pleasant yesterday & just the sort I like, as Sara was next to Sir J. & very agreeable & brilliant & looked quite pretty & I had Leo on my other side. & so I had nothing to do, but talk when I chose—

The Hookers came early & settled little Jo. who is such a decorous gentle mannered little man that he & B get on well together. He is quite well now but looks a little pale. Mr Graham is such an Irishman in looks & manner, but very agreeable & a great friend of Carlyles. He was one of the 4 who used regularly to drive out with him— F. has just been discussing some points of his books with him. Monday They are all gone but Lady H. & Joey—& she is so entirely absorbed in Joey that she is very easy—

She cannot take the least interest in whatever passes in conversation, so that F. found her a dead weight at dinner—but I quite like her when we are alone & find her easy & open & sensible. We are all charmed w. the Baron. Leo & Fr took him off in the mg. to sketch at Cudham lodge & in the P.M. they all went a walk & he & W^m had a great deal of talk about Ben. Constant his g^t uncle, whose letters are just about to be published & they utterly take away the reputation of M^me. de Stael & make out that he was the father of the Duchess de Broglie— So the family are most anxious to hush them up & the Baron is about to enter on a lawsuit; but as I understand, too late to stop the publication so that it is quite useless—

Harry Allen was v. pleasant & they all liked him.

Sir Joseph is gone today & so F. may enjoy silence but he has stood it very well— Yours my dear | E. D—

Mr Graham is really Scotch of the N. oF Ireland— He takes things coolly & thinks they will settle down again as they have often done before & that the Land bill is a necessity but will not do permanent good— Also that if a few agents are shot there is no help for it. Yours my dear | E. D—

We have had to invite young Darwin of Elston on Sat—so we shall not appear at Bry till Tuesday— I will wr. to R—

Sara & W. are gone to Miss Williams 4 Vicarage Gate Kensington—

He & G. had tremendous work but did not get thro' w. it—

I want to hear how Geo. gets thro' his horrid job w Woodhouse—

N. B. It is not too late to order Shrubs but they w^d do equally well in Feb. or March.

Just read Horace's printed letter— His ink is detestable tell him—but it is a nice letter