216 A Century oj fam^y juetters LCH.AP. xv 



you there, there are nooks and corners of time that one 

 catches only by being in the house with you. 



But we shall not agree to your tabooing all your friends, 

 as they do not tire F. like seeing his own. I aim at his 

 seeing nobody but the Huxleys and not giving luncheons 

 at all. We will stay a week I should like to say 10 days, 

 but I don't think I shall compass that. F. is much absorbed 

 in Desmodium gyrans l and went to see it asleep last night. 

 It was dead asleep, all but its little ears, which were having 

 most lively games, such as he never saw in the day-time. . . . 



Emma Darwin to her aunt Fanny Allen. 



DOWN, A rainy Sunday [Autumn, 1873]. 



MY DEAREST AUNT F. 



We have only Leonard with us to-day and I have 

 just sent down to Eliz. to persuade her to come up as it is 

 dark and dismal. She is uncommonly well and cheerful. 

 I have been looking over some very old letters of hers, 

 and it is not a very cheerful occupation; one gets one's 

 head too full of past times which always entails regrets, 

 and I now feel that we daughters made a mistake in not 

 talking more to my father and getting more into his 

 niind. . . . 



We are expecting Hen a and her husband to stay a 

 decent time with us, which somehow is of more value than 

 the same split up into short visits. 



Spiritualism was making a great stir at this time. During 

 a visit of my father and mother to Erasmus Darwin in 

 January, 1874, a seance was arranged with Mr Williams, a 

 paid medium, to conduct it. We were a largish party, 

 sitting round a dining-table, including Mr and Mrs G. H. 

 Lewes (George Eliot). Mr Lewes, I remember, was trouble- 

 some and inclined to make jokes and not play the game 

 fairly and sit in the dark in silence. The usual manifesta- 

 tions occurred, sparks, wind-blowing, and some rappings 



1 The " Indian Telegraph Plant," the dwarf leaflets of which 

 move by a series of twitches. 



