From H. E. Litchfield to G. H. Darwin [15 September 1875]

Dear George—

Here we are still. I am ashamed of being too tiresome & hanging on in this way—but we have now ceased to threaten to go for a week—Florence is dead & we have begun to unpack our Crowe & Cavalcaselle & all our guidebooks & R. is going today to Lon. Li. to get guidebooks for France & plan out where to go for our remaining time. Sometimes we think of Holland & Belgium & the Ardennes, Auvergne & Bruges & Chartres wd amuse me most I think or the Loire towns with a little seaside in Normandy first— However we don’t know yet it wont sink into merely Devonshire & Cornwall.

I enclose you this note from somebody—can you give him what he wants from memory? Father wasn’t very well on Sunday—but he is better since—& has borne up very well against an invasion of a Russian ornithologist which took place on Monday. Father let himself in for it by writing very civilly to say how grieved he was to miss him. Understanding that he wd be on his way back to Russia & so the wretched man put off his journey for a day— He was quite the most awful foreigner that has ever set foot in the house—very big & very dirty & hideously ugly— They say scratch a Russian & you find a savage—but you hadn’t got to do that with this man—& yet he was we believe a man of good position—had estate & serfs at any rate— He had been travelling in Kashgar & Khokand & all those places & if he hadn’t spoken with a voice uglier even than his face, & been also as unintelligible as he was repulsive, he might have had interesting adventures to tell— He had had his head almost cut off & the great gashes & scars made him uglier than nature did. He was brought down by a Mr Dresser who formerly lived in that house like a Swiss Chateau in Locksbottom—& has now taken to ornithology. He was the best satisfied man I ever came across. Even his dogs die for love of him—& he can fire a gun guicker with his left hand than anybody else can with their right—

We had a farewell call from Carlyle on Sunday. It was very lucky for us he came on Sunday as R. had never seen him & had a great wish to do so. He harangued us for an hour or more. Jemmy went off to Eastbourne on Monday, but I don't kno when he comes back. He enjoyed his Portsmouth tremendously & came back on Sat. night full of it all. He said he'd seen so much it was the hardest day's work he had ever had in his life. He didn't see any gun practice & he c^d.n't quite see over the workshops as thoroughly as he wanted. Bessy comes home today. She seems to have had a nice visit—tho' her larks have been mild—a drive in a one horse fly when nobody got out to walk up tremendous hills & she hadn't the courage to do it alone—& suffered a good bit for the horse.

I suppose you have heard of Frank's disappointment abt his Moth's proboscis. It has all been done before by a Frenchman in the Acad. Franc. However he seems going to finish it—

He & Amy went to call on old Carlyle yesterday—but didn't find him in & R. & I walked home thro' Holwood Park.

Emily Thorley came last night & Rowland is asked for Friday so he joyful that you are away. I feel more reconciled to him since I hear he is going to turn into a clergyman. I do hope you will be well eno' to enjoy your vis to the Cooksons. It is charming weather here & I shd think the country will be looking lovely. It is here with the regular autumn prettiness

Mother had a headach on Monday but is all well since.

yours dear Geo | H.S.L.

W^m. Kempson is much the same as he was.