Tuesday June 15 –

My dear Henry

I have a note from Mina ^<1> today proposing for herself & her Aunt M^rs Chambers, to pay us a visit on the 23^d – that will be tomorrow week Wednesday – She says they are in haste to return home & can only stay with us a couple of nights – I am, of course, writing to accept them & hope that you will be at home before then. – You will like to see them I am sure, & you need not bestow more of your time upon them than you chuse. – I told Nichole ^<2> all you said about his pictures. – had I known he was copying any of yours I should have looked after them myself & given my opinion – but I only knew of the plants which he did for Lady Elisabeth, ^<3> & partly to use up the old sheets of paper that were spoiling – and he was aware that he had laid the m plants on the paper wet after squeezing them – and he would have dried them properly with blotting paper if Lady E had not been in a hurry. –

May I desire Nichole to write to London for some Port-wine as we have none left? –

Your affectionate
Constance. –

Does not the weather please you today? – It looks I think a little like rain. –

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Notes:

1. Mina Mellish, a sister of Richard Charles Mellish (d.1865) who was a Clerk in the Foreign Office from 1824 to 1855. [See Doc. No: 04282].

2. Nicolaas Henneman (1813–1898), Dutch, active in England; WHFT’s valet, then assistant; photographer.

3. Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773–1846), WHFT’s mother.