From H. E. Darwin to Emma Darwin 16 January [1870]

Dearest Mother.

You see after all I am not in the Hotel Victoria, but this is just a stones throw off—so it really doesn't signify—though it will be nicer as well as a little cheaper, when I am down there—but my! won't it be dear at either one or the other—5 francs a day here for my room alone. I must ask what it is for Marie's on Monday—yesterday the place was all in a turmoil with a concert at which Lena helped & so I couldn't see anybody much

I got in here by four—we had a beautiful day for our rail wh. I enjoyed much. I thght with renewed scorn over a desription I remember seeing in one of Margaret's letters of the approach to Cannes— ""You go in & out of red rocks something like the railroad to Torquay, only not so pretty."" My beloved pines looked lonelier even, than I remembered them, more especially when they were leaning over the bright red rocks into the blue water. We had a tiresome morning at Toulon. It is such a nice old town, full of funny old streets, & I set off as I hoped twenty minutes before the bus wd think it necessary to start, for a wander by the fort, but M^me. of the bureau told me they wd be off in 5 minutes, & so I took a hurried rush without any pleasure & came back for a 20 minute sit in the bus. If I'd had a really strong mind I sh^d. have had strength of mind to go all the same—but I did not feel I sh^d. have had strength of enjoyment eno' to keep me from wondering whether they were going to start after all. I went in to the Victoria & had some tea with Ed, Uncle Ch. & Godfrey, all 3 with bad colds which is promising for the climate of Cannes. The 2 ladies Lena & Amy look v. prosperous, only Lena is in a boiling state of indignation at their solo soprano. It seems they are going to give a concert to wh. the whole of Cannes is coming now they find out at their last rehearsal that she sings abominably out of tune, & poor Lena is a gt state of wrath. It seems they know all the people up here, so I shan't feel lonely, as it is known that I hang on to them— We are exclusively English here—which is a terrible thing—& v. proper highly respectable English too. They say we are m. m. amusing at the Provence than they are at the Victoria & Edmund wd like