COL. ANSTRUTHER THOMSON 183 



" Give my love to Dick Alkin, Cross and all, and 

 pray remember me most kindly to all Atherstone 

 Field ; often do Jos and I talk over days spent 

 there. 



" With kindest regards to Mrs. Thomson and the 

 kid. 



" Yours very sincerely, 



" SoAME G. Jenyns. 



" Jos and all send their best love, and happy 

 New Years to all." 



" 10 Chester Street, 6th January, 1855. 



" My Dear Thomson, — 



" I have only returned from the Crimea a 

 few days, or should have answered your very kind 

 letter sooner. I left on the 13th November, as soon 

 as I heard that my poor brother was missing. I 

 made every enquiry there. The only thing that is 

 certain is that a man in the 13th, of the name of 

 Farringdon, who, from some cause, was one of the 

 last in the retreat, saw him at the Russian end of the 

 valley, half-sitting up, with his revolver in his hand. 

 He was then wounded in the lower part of his face 

 or neck, but might also have been elsewhere ; even 

 then it is certain that he was either then or after- 

 wards wounded in the chest, for the paper which he 

 had in his breast pocket, and which the Russians 

 sent back, was covered with blood. There are other 

 stories about other men having seen him, but I could 

 not make out that there was any truth in them. 



