From H. E. Darwin to Elizabeth Darwin [late 1860s]

My dear Lizzie

At last our week of bondage has come to an end & our much talked of sufferings are over. M^rs. F. F. went on Tuesday to the Hawkshaws—the poor old soul really was not so bad as we thought she wd be. She was not at all cross & she played whist in the evening. Horace was away part of her visit on his visit to Edmund which he enjoyed extremely—so much so that he going there again next week.

I enjoyed the little visit from the Jossi very much. We had such a beautiful day on Saturday with all the birds singing in their best spring voices that we shd have been fiends indeed if we hadn't been pleasant.

We were out about 5 hours & I always think outdoor life suits the Jossi so well, & then I am not afraid of taking them muddy walks—& so we went over 12 ploughed fields— we went 1^st. to the Berry woods & there we met with the hounds & you can't think how pretty all the scarlet coats looked glancing in & out in the sunshine & then we went on to the [barking] house down a lane you have never been & nearly to the Damons but after rushing about in the woods sometimes to escape the hounds & sometimes to get after them all came home along the valley & so saved that tiresome piece of highroad that we seem to have spent all our holidays in trudging over. You know the poor Damons are still very sick—all the children have got measles. On Monday too we met with the hounds again, for they met in the village & went towards Holwood Park with us— I was walking the Jossi to their fly & then went in to pay my respects to Elinor. We have now begun our scientific & German studies in earnest— I have been preparing for tomorrows lesson all today though I have been quite ill all day—I have had to go about with a muff in my lap cos my stomach wd ache so. Oh! I wished for my Phist! My darling! wdn't he have cured me at once. I have great hopes of getting a Persian kitten with hair touching the ground all round—the story is too long to tell you now as it half post 10 & I am tired & I have the rheumatics in my leg besides all my other complaints. I am sorry for you about your arithematic— How little I shd be able to do it goodness only knows. Papa is pretty well & Mama ditto.

y^r. affect | H.E.D.

You must have been deluged with calico after all. I am glad you liked the chocolates— I wish there had been more but I bought them for myself & so you see I thought it wd be greedy to buy too many. Must stop in good earnest this time.