TALBOT7958

Mount Edgcumbe ¹
Devonport

Sept^r 20^th 1859

My dear Henry

What a sad event this is of poor Uncle John’s ² death – so fearfully sudden too! Constance ³ wrote me word you had heard from Uncle William ⁴ – so did I. He seemed very low indeed – & no wonder – Do tell me if you have heard from him again for I do not know anything farther – Not even when & where the funeral was to take place – though I begged to be told.

So many times this year I have thought you were in the North, when you were quietly vegetating, or observing vegetation, at Lacock Abbey – for in every letter I got from Amandier ⁵ she said invariably: “ Nous attendons M^r Talbot dans quelques jours ⁶”. Hence the mistake when Milord ⁷ was at Chippenham for two days, & never saw you. I wish you would come & pay us a little visit now – It would, I know, cheer you up – & it is so very dismal never seeing you from one year’s end to the other. You have been alone too so long – & as I suppose your belongings will not return just yet if they are going to visit Matilda, ⁸ do just run down here – We shall not be much longer here, as we go to the Villa ⁹ when it gets damp – & I sh^d like you to come here. I want Ernestine ¹⁰ to see a little more of you, as well as myself – she is getting quite conversible now. Valletort & Katie ¹¹ are staying with Lady Abercorn ¹² at Brocket Hall – which She rents of L^y Palmerston. ¹³ I am not sure whether you know that I am in daily expectation of a little grandchild? Milord is still afloat in Barn Pool – but will I think land definitively in two or three days – Do come – dear Henry –

Y^r aff^te Sister
Caroline