London
23d March 1841
Dear Constance
Your little picture <1> appears to be perfectly well fixed. The process does not require any particular pains or trouble, not being apt to fail. After washing with the fixing liquid, it is not necessary to dry the picture; but it should be washed off with water & the picture then dried.
I got to the station yesterday with not more than one minute to spare, which was running it too close.
We had a very good journey. Mlle A. and Horatia <2> are much better the latter well enough to go to the Queen’s evening party last night.
Your affte
Henry
Pray send me in a letter a pair of grey kid gloves if you find them lying upon the Hall Table. –
You need not dry the picture between the first washing & the fixing (except slightly with blottingpaper.)
I only dry them when I mean to defer the fixing to another day.
The fixing liquid is to be poured out of the bottle into a little saucer.
A storm followed us all the way from Wiltshire to London travelling at the same rate that we did. It caught me when I got into a hackney coach.
Notes:
1. See Doc. No: 04224.
2. Amélina Petit De Billier, ‘Mamie’, ‘Amandier’ (1798–1876), governess and later close friend of the Talbot family [See Amélina's journal ], and Lady Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, née Fox Strangways, first m Talbot (1773–1846), WHFT’s mother.