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

There I stopped. I've been making my calculations & I see I spent 27 francs travelling & 21 francs here a day—upon 2^nd. thghts however I thk I must have made a blunder. W^m. doesn't mean to be there till the last week in April & so that w^d. keep me out a fortnight longer. I sh^d. thk I might stand a bit of April at home without going & catching cold. Certainly my spring is rather different to what it was last. I had just now been in bed about a fortnight, & was just entering upon that wearying time of not getting well. I don't agree with these people abt catching cold here. In England I sh^d. have caught cold over & over again under the same circs & temperatures. Well tomorrow is my french day & I must to bed early, as it begins at 8 oclk I have to be sharp. There has been a g^t. hullaballoo amongst the servants wh. I will detail tomorrow when the climax has come

Tuesday.

About my light silk gown. Tell Anne she may have my black lace tell her I sh^d. like it to be a rôbe ronde à la Pauline, & tell her not to be slapdash, but thk before she cuts  In the body the neck is rather high in front & the sleeves a little too short. I am sorry G. talks of Rome. I do thk it is such waste to try & cram the whole world into a 3 weeks tour. The end of the scrimmage is still uncertain. The food here is so bad that Marie wants to go & dine at the Provence. I am giving her her money & she can arrange it as she likes—but M^me. is in an awful passion—yesterday was the day when everybody replied their notes & every single person blew her up. The food is v. nasty, v. coarse beef out of wh. the soup has been made. The only good things are the sweets wh. is hard upon me, everybody else makes up upon pudding. I thk the hotel will be bankrupt next year. Ed & I went a charming walk on Sunday mg only our lights were ugly—unluckily we got into a water course to go down which set my knee wrong again a little. It is so v. little, I don't the least mind walking on it, in fact it is not half such discomfort as I almost always have in my feet, but it doesn't go, ought I do see anybody? Tell me what you think. I did it at Alassio, rushing down from the snowy mountain col (as for being too bold as soon as u are $\frac{1}{4}$ of hour from your party you may as well be an hour.) My lunch with Miss Bathurst was v. successful. She is a g^t. admirer of F.s—& we talked a good deal & I like her, only she has rheumatic gout in her eyes, as well as every where else, & it makes me uncomf to look at her, & sets my toes curling. Yesterday a long trapse in the town with Ed & Lena was all my out—beside a sit in the olives. For the 1^st time for some days we had a beautiful sunset wh. I see to perfection from my bedroom window, & that is an immense charm. It was Mildred's birthday, & she had a watch & a picture book & a woolly dog & a ride on a donkey. I thk she grows prettier. The other day when she was asleep you never saw anything so pretty as she looked with one little white arm thrown above her head & her cheeks flushed with sleep & pretty little mouth relaxed & so still you c^dn't see her breathe. Beauty is a wonderful charm in children. As for