From H. E. Darwin to Emma Darwin 12 [April 1870]

Dearest Mother—

I am beginning my letter at 8 A M so the [clence] is in it if it doesn't get off today—& bring up all back arrears— I quite forgot you & yesterday when I had well started on my walk it suddenly flashed upon me, what an enormous time it was since I had written— My throat has got almost quite well. It didn't have an access last night—& the only reason is becos I've gone & spent 6 precious francs in a remedy. Post come. It is so awfully nasty too, it will be purgatory to drink it— The external— — — — — — — — — — —

Here came in my french lesson [et] I don't kno what I was going to say.

Poor old Bobby. I always feared he would die. I'm glad we have so good a photograph of him. I hope he is buried somewhere in the garden. Shall you get another for a house dog. Polly is all very well for guarding me—but I don't thk she is much for guarding the house— I thk if u do get another, you must try & get an [ungainy] dog, for else they'll be sure to go off hunting— After all I am sadly afraid I shall not come home so soon as I expected— Marie is nearly certain t take this place & the Langtons have put off going till the 1^st. of May— No, I guess I shall come back sooner for the Stricklands say I may claw on to them—but I shall know better tomorrow— I am vaccinated all right— This a.m. at 9^.^30 in walked M^r. Strickland to propose a party for the Islands so I accepted & set off to get ready—no sooner was he gone than up drove M^rs. Strickland to say it was given up becos of Miss [Nevile's] headach—isn't there a fate against me & the islands— M^rs. S. asked me to go & drive with her—so we shopped about the town & I got our piqué dresses & tried to get your collar— The dresses are 85—i.e 68^fQQQQ—which seems a good deal—but it is beautiful embroiding & I thk is m. m suitable than a silk, cos it is never too smart & alw. smart eno'—& will last for ever— Then I went back to lunch with them—took a little walk— Then came Mildred to tea & eventually Ed & Lena, & then I staid behind to be vaccinated— The funny people all [jangled] abt who sh^d. pay the doctor & finally they settled I was to do it becos I talked abt it in a hardened way & ask him how much—which I did & only got for answer Ce que vous voudrez—so we paid a [nap]— I found being en [cordinee] the whole day from 8 up till 6.30 rather trying so goodnight— It seems a mere [jiffin] now till coming home  If I come with the Stricks, Monday week night— If with Marie Wednesday week night I shall kno tomorrow as I've said before—too tired for more.

Wednesday. So lovely. I must go to Antibes today even if I go with Marie. We shall go in by chemise??? de [fer] to save on purses.

4 P. M. Now for another try to get this letter off the stocks— I am dressed & changed after a most sweet day with Ed instead of with Marie. Again we squeaked our train in [truly] Langton style. Of course Ed at the last minute going back to look for something. Lena says if I lived with them my hair w^d. soon turn grey—but it is exemplary how I sit & read my novel when I kno it is a mere fluke whether we get it. Lena's principle is that you cant lose a train in France—but she condescended to [men] today when we saw the train getting up steam & over due to start before we were in the station. It was a day one of a 100—cloudless & hot as real summer—& such a blue sea & glittering clear air so that every olive looked all lined with silver. Its such a wonderfully picturesque place. An old town in a little height with handsome old fortifications & a little tiny fort with boats with latoon sails—& such a lovely view all over the bay of Nice & all the promontories as far as San remo of diff^t. shades of bluey lilac, & the whole snowy range without a cloud—as soon as you get past the picturesque old town so as to have it for a foreground, it makes one of the most lovely views I have ever seen. At the station we got into a bus & went out to a new hotel at the tip of the cap where it is [easiest] to get your luncheon—such a pretty drive seeing this lovely view in & out of olive woods— At the cap we ordered our lunch & then set off a walk by the coast wh. was as sweet as any thg we did. There was a little breeze to fill the sails of the fishing boasts & send us the sweetest white waves on to the rocks at our feet—whilst every now & then there was a cove where it was so calm & clean you saw every pebble at the bottom. We went for about a mile along this rocky path & then we turned inland to take a round home, thro' pine woods & lavender & cystus & myrtle & thyme making the most delicious hot wafts of an odour that no other smell in the world comes near—so hot—so aromatic so refreshing & so intoxicating. We came upon various brown barelegged men sleeping after their dinners & just raising themselves for a look & a sleepy bonjour—& besides that, the only animals we saw were great cicada's as big as small birds—so back to luncheon pretty hungry—& then a little carriage to the old town where we spent the rest of our time with great delectation— 1^st. walking round the fortifications—at one place we came upon an amateur concert on a drum. The performer one soldier, the audience one young man till we joined—when there was a marked improvement—you never heard such de [foreer]—we had a good deal of fun out of the soldiers later on—we saw them being drilled which seems to consist in making them skip & jump about like ballet dancers. The tours itself is very pretty & not near so dirty as usual with a main street quite a [illeg] & a row of micoconber trees in their 1^st. tender green leaf—lots of dogs sleeping round, & brown pots put out to sell—& nobody to buy—only old women with yellow hankerchiefs sitting in their doors, & so home—finding our walk up here pretty hot after having been on our legs for most of the time in a boiling sun. Now I am going up to M^rs. Mathesons to sing—tho' I fear I haven't got my voice back again & Goodbye for this batch—

Evening— Here comes the last batch  I've just finished off my french lesson for tomorrow. Marie is engaged by the lady. If all goes well & I don't take (vaccin) I shall come with the Stricklands sleeping at Marseilles, Paris & I think most likely London. It will make it rather late & long coming home the same day at the same time would [you] tear out the leaf of the London Chatham & Dover & the Folkestons  [Tunbridge] & Charing [illeg] p. 65 I think & send them to me so that I may see about the feasibility. If I should take in vaccination—or if I sh^d. want to stay v.m. for some reason I should wait for the Langtons who start on the 23^rd. 

It is nice to thk of coming home so soon. I will tell F. what to pay in to the bank when I get home—

yours H.E.D.