1893-1896] The Duke of Wellington 311 



Aug. ISth, 1896. 



Nurse goes to-morrow to Tunbridge Wells, where she 

 is to get me some shoes, old-fashioned slippers which she 

 says can be found nowhere else in short she knows every- 

 thing. Well, good-bye for to-day. 



Nurse's manner to me is like one housemaid to another a 

 little beneath her, but I am not the least offended. 



DOWN, Aug. 30 [1896]. 



Rose's letter duly came. I send it as it is so nice. The 

 moral I draw is that a bit of jewelry is the present that 

 gives the most pleasure, e.g. the little amethyst brooch 

 which gave me such intense pleasure when I was 14 (apart 

 from any sentiment). I shall be on the look-out for five 

 brooches or lockets for my grand-daughters. The Holwood 

 [blackberrying] party answered well 'Gwenny brought a 

 tin full, while Boy and Margt. eat most of theirs. George 

 and Maud found Lady Derby at tea alone, and they had an 

 interesting talk, chiefly about the Duke of Wellington, with 

 whom she was intimate, as with every other great man. 

 She said she owed more to him in forming her character 

 than to anyone, and even now she found herself considering 

 what he would do in such a case. She never heard him say 

 a severe or unkind word. She was walking with him when 

 he stopped to soothe a crying boy. He only put his hand 

 on his head, and told him not to cry, when the boy stopped 

 dead, and the Duke said, " I can always stop a crying child." 

 I suppose however it was only the effect of surprise, and the 

 child might begin crying again. 



Sept. 5th, 1896. 



George and the dear chicks are just gone in the waggonet. 

 On Thursday I made John take me a circuit in the chair 

 by Down Hall and the Cudham Lane. I was glad to see the 

 Cudham Lane once more. It looked ever so much deeper, 

 with high hedges and trees grown. I came back over the 

 big field and through the Smith's yard. I felt the sharp 

 wind over the bare field quite like an old friend. 



