TALBOT2813

Lacock Abbey
Monday

My dear Henry

M^r Feilding ¹ bids me say that your letters are beyond all price to him, and that he would write and tell you so himself were he in spirits to do so. – But at present he feels low and miserable and quite unequal to making any exertion. –

He got some sleep last night, which is at any rate a g decided improvement, and therefore I should hope he feels more comfortable today, but as he does not much like receiving visitors, I know very little about him. – Horatia ² is with him a good deal, and at other times he seems tired, and prefers being alone. –

I hope this lovely weather extends as far as London. – I have been out enjoying the sunshine a long time today, and M^lle Amélina ³ and I have been very busily employed, hoeing up weeds under the windows of the east front. – We found many fragments of Nuns bones among the stones & rubbish, which rather horrified M^lle Amélina – & made her almost inclined to relinquish the occupation. – I revisited the Seeds & found many of them coming up, among the rest, was the Silene Nutans from Unterseen, which immediately recalled to my mind the Castle of Unspunnen, ⁴ & that lovely green bank on which we sat down to rest our wearied limbs the day after our expedition to the Wengern Alp. – Do you remember that lovely evening when we took a tête-à-tête walk, and how tired we were, so tired that we could scarcely crawl home again? –

Are you thinking of coming back to Lacock? – your fortnight will expire on Friday, but I hardly expect to see you so soon as that, especially as the House of Commons appears interesting. – Have you looked at any houses yet? – I suppose you are aware that M^r Feilding’s idea of going abroad is become almost a certainty, & that consequently the house in Sackville ⁵ [sic] will soon have to be set in order for letting. –

Y^r affectionate
Constance