264 A Century of Family Letters [CHAP, xvm 



anything of that sort, as Bernard is ten times as fond of you 

 as of anyone else. 



Of course my wish is to have you as near as possible at 

 once; but I should be quite content the other way, and I 

 think you have hardly given consideration enough to these 

 two points. You can tell me what you think. At my age, 

 75, I cannot look on any arrangement as very durable for 

 me, and it is no effort to me to give up what would be 

 the pleasantest present plan if it does not seem to be 

 wisest; and in this feeling Bessy joins, though she would 

 feel the weaning from Bernard much more painfully than 



I should do. 



Yours, my two dear children, E. D. 



I don't in the least mind talking about it, but I can write 

 more clearly than speak. 



Emma Darwin to her daughter Henrietta Litchfield. 



Friday night [Dec., 1883.] 



Bessy and Mrs Myers are gone to the Electro, of the young 

 ladies at Girton. We were talking about the play before 

 Bernard when he said, "Is it nice ?" I answered, " Yes, 

 very nice." 



B. : What is it about ? 



Me : About a woman murdering her mother. 



This account of a nice play was too much for Jackson's 

 gravity. I have been reading your father's letters to 

 William which he has kept. There is a great deal of anxiety 

 about the health of you. What a blessing science was to 

 him through all his anxieties and his bad health. It made 

 him able to forget all for a few hours. 



Wednesday [1S83J. 



Mrs Carlyle 1 is almost too sad, chiefly from such terrible 

 bodily sufferings, but how she could write such disloyal 

 tetters about him, and still more how he could bear to 

 publish them ! 



1 Letters and Memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle. 



