From H. E. Litchfield to Emma Darwin [September 1871]

Dearest Mother

I thought we were going to have a good soaking day & therefore tht I sh^d be able to write you a real letter & wash the brushes & read the papers & sew on collars & all sorts of good works, but it is getting so terribly fine, I shall have t give everything up & go out. I have fixed myself so comfortably too on the bed with a delicious arrangement of pillows & an open window before me looking on the lake & the opposite shore dotted with little white houses now bright in sunshine an hour ago hidden by the most tremendous rain. Yesterday was spent almost entirely on the blessed lake. It was almost dead calm—a rather grey day tho' there was afterwards brilliant sun, but as lovely as anything could possibly be, the mountains being of every possible shade of soft pearly grey & the water so calm we saw the whole sides of the mountains nearly as plain in the water as out. Our exped was to a Villa abt an hour down the lake—name I've forgotten—but I don't thk you know these lakes well so it will not interest you. It is not a show Villa, so no gardener hunts you round & no sign of fellow tourists are to be seen. We landed in a little bay where they were dragging in their fishing nets & sat down & eat our lunches R.'s being truly poetical & in keeping—grapes, bread & vin du pays—wine, as usual, a nugget of meat, seasoned with salt out of an old pill box. Then when our simpil meal was concluded, we sauntered up thro' woods of young acacias, beeches, etc where I saw a cyclamen & a pink so I cant say it was carpetted with flowers, but one wants nothing in the way of colour more than to look down, thro' the tender green these trees seem to keep all the year, on the clear water below, which looks all sorts of lovely & indescribable colours—blue & green & grey & opalescent. Richard is such a horrid sceptic—he won't see how m. m. brilliant you get the colours by looking upside down. I shall never think I have my due amount of influence till I've convinced him of this great fact. You might have thought the place belonged to a sleeping beauty it seemed so deadly still as we [sat] under the loggia with a lovely view each way—down t Como & up the other way for this villa is situated on the very tip of a promontory—such a situation! We made schemes of joining with somebody t take it for our holiday some autumn & thought how sweet it would be to sit for ever in such a place lotus eating— There was a bank of oleandirs sloping down towards the waterQQQQ— I sh^d like t have seen in flower I must [own], but turnQQQQ over. I've not seen many flowers, the only brilliant show is the scarlet salvia they have abroad, why ever don't we? Its calyces are scarlet too & it does make such a glowing mass of colour. When we came down the hill again we found such a funny little school going on in the place where we had eaten our lunch. A frowzy looking old man in [specs] & half a dozen black eyed boys & girls sitting round a stone table under the trees doing multiplication sums, such a primitive little school I never saw. I thk Italian children must belie their looks if he could get much attention out of them with all the distractions of out of door life- –-fish nets being hauled in etc. to to disturb them.

The row home was very peaceful & sweet with such lights upon the distant mountains, colours I do not believe you get north of the alps & which reminded me of my dear Riviera  Our boatman was determined we sh^d have plenty of time to enjoy it. He rowed about as slow as a man could row & keep moving at all. In fact it was so sweet we couldn't bear t go in & discharged our lazy boatman at the [view] & R took the oars & we went round our promontory on t the Lecco arm of the lake where there are splendid cliffs clothed with [aloes] or figs or pines wherever it is possible for anything to get a foothold. It was so calm the reflexion made it look as if the cliffs went straight down endless depths under the water, unless you looked closer when you could see the real [stony] bottom deep under the clear green water— One always had a kind of wish t commit suicide in a place that seems really made for it. Today for the first time the water is nearly up t mediterranean colour & I think I must go out & enjoy it. There are great white [horses] will keep me safe on shore. There is a lonely villa just above our hotel made into a hotel where we are going t get our lunch & spend the day in & out of the endless walks above the cliffs we boated under yesterday 

So Goodbye for the present dear Mother— How is Bessy going on. Love t Horace so glad to hear he is so well. | your H.

Dear Hope. I'm so sorry to hear you have been bad. I believe you t be at Down, so I'll just write this on t Mothers letter. I did mean if it had only rained t have written you a real letter too, but this Olive ⁠⟨⁠⁠⟨⁠water⁠⟩⁠⁠⟩⁠ has taken my heart away & I must boot & spur myself  I do so hope you are better. I think of you very often my dear one.

your, [Harriet]

We stay here till Wednesday probably. Then Venice I believe.