From H. E. Litchfield to Elizabeth Darwin [late 1870s]

4, Bryanston Street, | Portman Square. W.

Dear Bessy—

I have got Laura here on the 14th so we couldn't come on that Sat, many thanks. We could come next Sat if you are not full. I am sorry poor old Frank keeps so unwell. He does look dreadfully gloomy when he is unwell. I am not very bright today so taking a day of sofa— It is the less of a sacrifice as we have got the horrid fog back again. St G., who arrived today from Ireland, had to walk all the way from Euston with his cabman leading the horse & even so they went astray— It has been better than that since, but still nasty enough. I wish I had asked Mother to see about putting straw round the roses—this remarkable snowlessness of the frosts will, I am afraid, make it much more likely to kill them. Will you tell Mother R. has taken the receipt down to the office & will enquire about it but he thinks it is all right. St G. looks very happy at the thghts of his India & is very nice & tame, there is something quite attaching in him & I thk it is a sweet look in his eyes. These Indian families get to look at gng out to India quite as a normal thing. He is gng into the Staff Corps & he says the worst of it is that there are so few officers you are ""almost driven to marry""— I've given him the Mofussil to amuse himself with. The other boy Martin seems to me improved but he has such tiresome little restless eyes like a ferrets & great big clumsy hands wh. are never still. I was lunching at Elinor's yesterday where I met Mrs Alfred B.C. & I didn't find her manners at all ""Kenty"" & she looked ever so much more cheerful than I remember seeing her, & he looked t me ever so much less of a fop & more of a man— By the way Sales met Mrs Clifford at Mrs Pollocks & she sent very kind regards to Father. Poor woman! She pulled off her childs hat to make me see how like her forehead was to her father's. She looked quite well—. The little Pollock has a task of crossstich work every morning & duster hemming in the p.m. & it can thread its own cross stitch needle which seems to me wonderful for under 4 years old—such handy little tiny fingers performed the feat so quickly— I have been full of ""Sister Dora"" by Margaret Lonsdale & advise you to get it from Mudie— It is almost too full of horrors, but it gives a most wonderful picture of her devotion & character. One wonders whether that kind of life ever has gone on without any religious motive. There is no logical reason why it shdnt—why love of yr fellow men shdnt be eno' of a motive power—but I wonder whether it ever has. I've been reading Shaw Lefevre & thght it v. convincing till I read W. H. Smith & now I must wait for Richd to give a casting vote

St G. says his wild irish that he was told off to watch with 100 men have been all quiet but there will be rows in March.

Goodbye dear B.

I wish poor G. cd hear of the McClennan death

Please cite as “FL-1090,” in Ɛpsilon: The Darwin Family Letters Collection accessed on 29 March 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/darwin-family-letters/letters/FL-1090