From H. E. Darwin to Emma Darwin 22 [February] 1870

Dear Mother—

As I wrote such a shabby scrap in Godfrey's letter I'll send another [shred] via Hope— The sun is shining beautiful & the squall seems to have cleared the atmosphere, so I think [legs] [volente] we shall have a [nicey] walk up the olive slopes— We enjoy getting back to our olives from the reign of vines v.m. I'm sorry to say Marie has developed neuralgia which is v. aggravating—& I feel I might as well have had [Anne] as far as that goes— Mercifully she doesn't seem ill with it— She has curiously little go in her—& I can't understand it, for she is not the least a lady so she has no refined feelings to combat with. I really believe she minds more going & asking things than I do—& as she can talk french, I can't thk why it is— She alw. repeats to me what the courriers & cochers say to her, alw. with bursts of giggles—even if it is only, ""Bonjour Mad^lle.—il fait mauvais temps aujourdhui."" mais oui M. je lui ai repondu—" The cochers here were too shy to have dinner with Marie alone—& sent for M^me. to come & [tenir] [compagnies] à M^lle.— She is getting a [bowing] acquaintance with them all now. stopping so long on the riviera— I'm getting greedy for my San Remo letters of which I hope I shall get a batch— I spose u are a quiet trio now except for y^r. Sundays. We were very lucky in getting Gladstones speech in Genoa before we left—we read it out every drop & a third of it made my throat feel qu scraped & sore  How Oh how can he marshall all those facts in due order in his mind—ready to be given out with such perfect clearness. He is a wonderful man spite of his being a High Churchman & writing a book abt Homer— We did have a most charming walk this afternoon. The squall & fall of snow on the mountains completely cleared the air & we had brilliant sunshine & a beautiful many coloured sea all over white—horses— we went up to a little town about an hour from here where I parted company from Godfrey & Amy & went on alone to a col— I was a little [frittened] of going thro' the town—many people addressed me in an unknown tongue to wh. I responded Buon giorno & passed on—thy vehemently tried to make me turn back, but I was so bold as to thk I knew best when I wanted to go & hold on till I got to my col where I looked down on a net work of valleys with little towns & church steeples, & beyond a beautiful amphitheatre of snow mountains cutting clear against the sky— I daren't stay v. long firstly becos I'd [no] time to spare & nextly cos I was so hot & the wind was keen as a knife— They only gave me half an hour—25 min of wh. I used

in [mounting] as hard as I c^d. go— I never went up a hill so quick & puffed like a grampus when I got to the top. All the donkey girls & men stared so I'm sure a tourist doesn't get up there once in 10 years— I found afterwards that when G. & A. toiled as far as the town everybody came out to explain tht I was gone first & they must make haste & follow me with g^t. excitement— They explained they didn't mean to & sat down to draw & there I found them when we came back. Then out came all the children from school & drawing was impos so we went off a long meander home [egarering] ourselves à la Mentone in the Olives—& meeting such a picturesque flock of biblical looking black & white sheep with a brown shepherdess who stared at us well— The people seem a v. [illeg] race here & not to have any ill feeling at sea all over white—horses, we went up to a little town about an hour from here [illeg]

Goodbye | Had such a good dinner & [illeg] to bed— Yours | H