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Hôtel Timeo, Taormina:- Has ‘found fine weather and comfort at last here’, and will stay for the rest of his time abroad. Has got to work already on his first day here; the weather is ‘perfect, and rather cold’. Came straight here from St. Raphael, stopping a day at Naples to see if going to ‘Corpo di’ Cava, but thought he would have been ‘washed out’: was not till he got past Messina that it stopped raining. Most of Italy has been ‘flooded this winter’, though it has not been very cold; Taormina ‘seems to have escaped’. The hotel is very quiet, and only half-full.

The Cacciolas are ‘very glad to see’ Robert; their house is quieter since the ‘lunatic German governess’ has left. Cacciola suspects she took opium, if not her behaviour was ‘almost inexplicable’. Floresta, the ‘padrone’, has had a letter from [Roger] Fry saying that he and his wife are coming soon. Robert hopes they will stay for a while; believes they are currently at Tunis but has not heard from them recently. Hopes his family are all well. Hears the Russells [Bertrand and Alys] have returned from America; hopes he will ‘find them settled at Fernhurst’ when he returns. Does not think he will stay longer than a month. It is an ‘almost perfect place’ for his work, with the Cacciola’s garden and books; expects he will get ‘much more done’, as last spring he ‘was more uncertain as to what [he] wanted to do’.

Hôtel Timeo, Taormina:- Was ‘very glad’ to get his mother’s letter: what she says about his father [resigning his seat in Parliament for private life?] is what he has been ‘expecting and hoping to hear for some time’, for both his father’s sake and that of his book. Would however like to talk to her about this when he returns, ‘some time about the beginning of next month’. Has been fine weather since he arrived, though it was very cold for several days which amounted ‘almost to a disgrace to Taormina, which is nothing if not a warm place’; now however it is as hot as may be wished, ‘far hotter than Wallington in midsummer’. A ‘rather… rowdy lot’ have been staying at the hotel, ‘chiefly Germans and a banjo-twanging marine from Malta’, who have been ‘playing bad danse [sic] music on a vile piano, dancing and singing (the Homeric μολπη) till eleven at night, much to the annoyance of the quieter guests’. Floresta was ‘very angry, as such a thing is unheard of in his hotel’; Robert thinks the worst of them have gone now, and Floresta would stop further noise.

Has been listening to all of Florence [Cacciola Trevelyan]’s ‘woes’ this morning; last year he used to give about a morning a week to this, and ‘then administer such advice and consolation’ as he thought fit. Her garden is ‘much nicer this year, and the flowers earlier and more abundant’. Has not heard anything of the Frys yet, though believes they are coming here before long. Returns ‘the card of Σ with profit and thanks’; is very sorry that he has ‘nearly torn it in half’ - asks if she could put some ‘paper with paste or gum at the back to hold it together’ before she gives it back to his father, and tell him Robert is ‘very sorry for the accident’.