Neuchâtel – Sunday July 25 1869
My dear Henry
At 2. O Clock P.M. today I had the promised letter from Lucca – and it contained a good report of Malle Amélina – It had evidently been nothing more than one of those attacks which she is subject to in hot weather – and which Dr Gason thought may very likely have been brought on by sitting out late in the evening & getting a little chill. The doctor was treating her judiciously and they both seem to like him very much. He spends some all his winters at Rome & has told them of more than one very comfortable English boarding house at Rome – at 10 francs per day each person. much more desirable for Ladies by themselves than any of the large hôtels – He is an Irishman, & of course deeply interested in the Church question. He comes as a friend sometimes in the evenings to talk politics with Mamie. His Wife is said to be very pleasant, & she has promised to call & make acquaintance. Change is proposed as soon as Mamie is better perfectly well: & if Lucca continues to be damp & steamy as it is at present – Perhaps Spezzia, R’ says, for the sake of Sea air – besides it is very pretty, and they have already had a glimpse of it, & know what to expect. R. scolds me a little for heaving felt anxious & sent that Telegram ! She said that poor Vittoria was obliged to carry their answer all the way to the Telegraph Office at Ponte à Seraglio, trudging along through the heat, at the time Monie was writing her letter to me. – They were so astonished at our Telegram, they could not at first understand what it meant! for she had no thought that those few words in her letter to Ela could make me anxious! I had a letter from Tilly yesterday just before leaving Vevey. It had been forwarded from Lausanne. I don’t know why she directed these so late as July 19th. They are getting on very comfortably at Port William, through the weather had been rather cool & windy: Only 2 hot days since their arrival – They had made some pleasant excursions with a family whom they seem to have met for the first time – Sir Wm Maxwell of Monreith. Tilly has botanised & found some interesting plants, & proposes to make out a complete list of them to shew you – Supposing you to be still here she gives a message about them, and says that she had found the oyster plant (whose proper name she forgot at the moment) Astragalus glycyphyllus, yellow thistles, Horned Poppies, Vicsia Sylvatica & &c. – I am so glad Ela had such a good sunset at Geneva for Mont Blanc &c. I thought it would be from my observations at Vevey – and what a splendid full moon! – We had a prosperous journey to Neuchatel yesterday evening: but the weather was grey & ugly: and today it has rained pouring since 4 o’clock – up to that hour it was rather windy, wild & threatening but pleasant enough. and the Belle vue hotel is very well situated on the Margin of the Lake, & close to the Quay where the Steamers land their passengers – but being Sunday, the scene was particularly animated and amusing – It just suited me – for I felt too much tired to go out.
I direct this to the Athenæum, but expect the letter will travel quicker than yourself. – It will not however leave Neuchatel till tomorrow morning –
Your affectionate
Constance
[envelope:]
Angleterre via Belgique
H. F. Talbot Esqre
Athenæum Club
London.
S.W.