MAIFONI 



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subject of the great kindness of the friends about him, which 

 he described as being beyond words. His thoughts, too, 

 often returned to the people at home, and, knowing that he 



TALBOT WITH DAMESSA RETURNING TO ENGLAND 



could not hide from them the fact of his illness, he wrote long 

 cheery letters making light of it to allay their anxiety. On 

 October 15 he wrote to break the news of his illness : 



" My dear Mothee, — I really must not let the quick 

 extra mail go without a line in return for all I have got the 

 last few days. The posts have been dropping in in rapid 

 succession till we are now no longer in arrears. Your letters 

 have given me the greatest enjoyment because I have been 

 greatly bored for the last week, hardly been able to move 

 off my back for a sort of chronic ' colly wobbles.' The long 



