Letter from Emma Evans to her cousin, Arthur Phelps. Transcribed from a scan of
the original in September 2013 by Penelope Forrest, born Phelps, great
granddaughter of Arthur.
16 Kensington Square
August 3rd 55
Dearest of old Stumps,
It is longer than I like since I last
heard from you but I hope a letter may be on its way to me by this time. That's
the worst of letters with all this sea between us, that they get so stale. Your
letters however don't suffer from the voyage quite so much as I dare say some
do, for to do you justice, there is always a good deal of yourself in them, &
that does not get damaged by keeping. I want to hear how you are getting on at
Poonah – & all about you – whether you like it better
than Asserghur, & especially whether you like the set you are now in better than
those at A, & whether they really are a better lot, & have any among them to
whom you can look up. Write me a good long letter, there's a dear boy, if you
have not, & remember how I care to hear all & anything about you. You know
you're more or less my youngest brother, so it's natural I should have rather a
weakness for you. And don't fancy, as I see some people do, that, because I have
something more to care for & think about than I used to have, that old interests
& friendships are less to me than they were.
Bassy is thinking seriously of giving
up his Indian work, because there seems no prospect of a rise in his pay
sufficient to enable him to marry & as his engagement will be two years long on
the 29th of next month of course he is anxious to
prolong it as little as possible. He has had the offer, from Mr
Goldney of the Secretaryship of the Llynvi Iron Co. It is one of the first in
the country, & his pay wd be £200 a year to begin
with, & a prospect of speedy increase. There are 5 directors of whom Mr
Goldney is one, & he is a larger shareholder than anyone but the Chairman. It
does not seem just the thing for old B does it? but then what is there to be
done. He is like the big houses, which they say are always harder to let than
the little ones. He is looking better than he did. I cannot imagine what John
will do if he goes. Besides the difficulty of finding anyone who knows so much
about Indian affairs as B or who has the head to master any subject so quickly,
it will be very hard to find anyone who can work peaceable with & under John –
as poor fellow, his temper is none of the best. He is very much out of health &
has been in doctors' hands for a long time. Uncle John is gone abroad & John was
to have gone with him but his doctor did not want to lose sight of him yet.
Talking of doctors, my last letter to
you was from Osbaston; it was such a happy visit there. I was there more than 5
weeks, & then spent a few days at Bourton near Rugby with the Pearsons, on my
way home. The Pearsons were in great anxiety when I was with them, for Mrs
Lewis, Mrs P's sister was staying with them, & very
ill, & her husband Major L was in London, very dangerously ill. There came a
telegraph message while I was there to say how ill he was – but Mrs
L was so ill that Mrs Pearson did not tell her of
it, as her going to him was quite out of the question. Mrs
L is better now but her husband – such a good kind man – is dead. But for that
sorrow, it would have been a very pleasant little visit, I like each & all of
them so much. The two girls were not at home but I had seen them some days
before at Hinckley. May is out of health, I think she has been growing too fast
for she is considerably taller than Janey now, who, her father fears will end by
being a little woman with big feet. She is at the head of her school, I believe,
& does more things than any girl there. George P is one of the nicest boys I
ever knew.
I don't think our affairs were in so
settled a condition when I last wrote, as they are now. It is decided – as I
hoped it might be – that we are to begin together at dear old Bosworth. It will
be so much better to move afterwards if we find it
necessary, because there is a whole host of objections to making the move now,
besides the one which I fancy weighs more with us than all the rest put together
– the long waiting. You know we are both getting old. He will soon be grey – & I
bald. He was 32 the 10th of last month & I shall be
27 the 13th of next. He has been here for two days
since my Osbaston visit & will I hope be soon able to come again – but he is
never sure. I wish you knew him better. He is so exactly all I need. I like that
ugly old house of his at Bosworth very much. I wonder when I shall go to it.
Early next year I believe, but Mamma says we ought not to begin with the
Exchequer at zero, so he is to save a little money to begin with – & that will
take some little time for he wants to buy a new house – and a cow. Did I tell
you that he now occupies the two near fields? I cannot tell you how strange it
was to walk the old way there over the fields, with him the other day – to see
how our crops were getting on. I used to spend most Sundays with him, to go to
Church in the morning with the Copes – & spend the rest of the day at Bosworth
walking back again with him in the evening.
Fancy our having dear old Flower here
the other day. I wrote to him some little time ago, to tell him where we were in
case he came up to London during his holidays, but I got no answer till one day
at dinner with Mr & Mrs
Miles & Staffy here, Bassy suddenly bounced up from the table & went to the
door, & speedily re-entered leading in old Flower, who was a little fractious
from the dust & heat, but just like his old self. He spent nearly the whole day
with us a fortnight ago, & was so astonished when I told him about Mr
Hubbard. He wanted to know about you of course.
Staffy is the same. I need not say
more about him. He did not know the state of his Father's affairs, till Mr
Miles taking for granted that Mr Haines had told
him all, began to speak of them. He is still at Dr
Bridgman's & stays there till Michaelmas. He says Mrs
B is never tired of talking of you – which he seems to find an excellent joke.
He has taken to smoking, as might have been expected. I don't know that he is
any worse than he used to be – he is only a vacuum.
How do you think Anne & I employ our
leisure hours now? In picking up minute stones in the gravel of our little
garden walk – & bottling them. It so often makes me think of you old boy – & of
our collections of the same sort. Anne is much as usual, rather better I think.
She wants to know what is to be done with the small goods & chattels you left
behind you. Your silver cup has been given into Fanny's care. I wonder whether
you have yet received your watch.
Poor Willy is gone. I wonder how he
will get on in Australia. I hope Charley will not have lost his influence over
him; if he has he will find W a terrible drag on him. He is not improved, I am
afraid. That morbid desire to get up an interest & excitement about himself is
more rampant than ever. Charley seems going on very well though last year was a
bad one for the vines.
Mamma is pretty well. She is sooner
tired, I see, a good deal than she used to be. Miss Stewart has been staying
here some time & leaves next Tuesday I believe. You must remember hearing of her
two "pupils at Wanlife", Harriet & Catherine Palmer. It was for C Palmer who
used to personate Gordon Cumming that I made that little cross-bow. But last
month they both died of gastric fever – & were buried together. I am so sorry
for Mrs P.
There is a long notice in today's
Leicester Journal which we still take, of the speeches & Examinations at
Bosworth on the 25th when the school broke up. It
is reasonable, I think, since so large a proportion of the boys are poor, to
have the holidays at the harvest time. I do not like what I have seen & heard of
Mr Fagan. I am very sorry indeed for it. The
Governors did try so earnestly & diligently to select the best man for the place
they could. He is a restless domineering man – most difficult to work with. The
teaching there is now carried on principally by lectures. I don't know how the
system works. I should hardly think it can be successful.
The Copes are all well. Mr
C & the two boys were at Brinton for 10 days lately, but they did not come &
stay with us, as we hoped they would. Madlle is
better. She is rather thinking of going to the Paris Exhibition this summer, &
if so she will come to us for a short time either going or returning. Aunt
Charlotte is pretty well. The Thorps are with her or have been lately. He is
trying for an extension of leave on the ground of ill health.
How are you now dear Arthur? I have
been so sorry in your letters lately always to see that you are unwell. Does
Poonah suit you better? Do take care of your old self. You have not sent me your
photograph yet. When is it coming? I have heard of one but have not seen it.
Then I must stop for I have another
letter to write (I wonder who to?) & have very little time, as we are to meet
the Haywards at the Band in the K Gardens this afternoon & bring them back to
tea with us. They are very well. Lizzie James is in Wales & going to stay there
some weeks.
You really have some right to abuse my
writing today, but it is very hot, & I am altogether shaky today having
undergone a visit to the dentist's yesterday. Mamma, Anne & Miss Stewart all
send you their love – a very great deal of mine to you dear old boy.
Ever your loving sister Emma