From H. E. Litchfield to Elizabeth Darwin [1880?]

Dear Bessy—

I'll send off your pen by post—when I get home—or indeed from here— It spoils what handwriting I have got—but it is so handy for lying down I'm going to stick to it—& get one for myself. Well, I've got all our annals to relate— First I thk R. is really on the mend. He was only moderately well on Friday & we both had abominable nights—partly the clocks—but, however, we were all right for the great day. It looked grey in the morning & we felt nervous—but it cleared up & except for one shower it was a perfect day—neither hot nor cold, windy nor stuffy & beautiful sunshine & clouds— There were a little over 100 people altogether—& they went about in two lots Crawleys party & R's party with some aide decamps V. Lushington St. Davies Westlake etc & Horace—& a few of the Oxford men Th. Hughes & two younger men— Horace Ida & I met them in Queens & went about a little— Ida & Horace both getting on very well. Ida chiefly talking to the beloved M^r Tansley— We astonished the undergraduates rather to see all this people tramping about. Ida & I of course didn't stick to them all the time but we met them again at Kings Chapel where the organist was good enough to come & play & it did look so beaut with the sunshine streaming in & staining the pillars—after that we all trooped off to Trin Library which I hadn't seen for ages & then Ida & I went into George's rooms which had been unlocked for the purpose & were most useful for us & rested for half an hour & then went up into the gallery to see them eat. They had a very good dinner of all sorts of meats & cherry tart & the beer that Trinity stood them— The worthy old Couts Trotter dined with them. Ian Hughes made a nice little speech thanking Trinity & R. for all his thght & trouble & Couts Trotter made a very nice little speech back again saying how glad Trinity had been to do it both out of sympathy with the W.M.C & respect for Maurice—& then we all moved off to Trin chapel where M^r Stanford gave us half an hour of the most divine music. I never heard such playing on an organ before—& I'd no notion how grand an organ it was. You cant tell the least from the antechapel where you seem to get all the harshness. one of the finest things was the dead march Lieder ohne played very slow. It made one's back shiver.

After that everybody was to look after themselves till the Downing tea at 7 o'clk. But it was so lovely we couldn't bear to come in & Horace took us a little loaf in a boat. After wh. we four went home & rested a bit before going on to the Downing tea. Crawley had managed that delightfully. It was all out of doors in the beautiful fellows garden & was a charming finish to a day I'm sure they'd always remember. Crawley made a nice little speech in answer to a little speech of M^r Tansleys telling the story of the undergrad. who was to come to Downing to be scolded by a Downing proctor—& who presented himself all covered with dust late in the afternoon & when rebuked for not having come in the morning in a tidy state, said he'd set out at 10 o'clk & had been trying to find Downing ever since—he Crawley wanted to help them to realise Downing & thght tea there w^d. be the best way.

We are lunching with a King's undergraduate today—which will seem a funny reversion to the time of my youth—& dining with Crawley this evening— It will be my first dissipation out of Trinity—

It is very nice stopping here with these two dear people— I shall have the fun of going over their new house tomorrow—wh. will be great fun—so I shan't be home quite in time to receive King Ubbadub—but as M. [Darcy] is coming it wont much signify. Will you send this to Laura (tho its very dull I know) but I thk she'll like to hear how our day went off. Its partly dull cos I'd another horrible wakeful night. Goodbye dear B. | your | H.E.L.

I hope you & Mother both avoided Gurney—& that Father wasn't dead—