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Morningside, Park Avenue, Watford. - Came to spend Sunday with Annie [Philips], but became ill with influenza on Saturday and has been confined to since; 'tiresome' as she cannot see Annie, but she is being well nursed. The fever is gone but she will not be able to travel before Thursday. Good to see Bob on Saturday morning and hear good news of Elizabeth. Hope Madame Grandmont [Bramine Hubrecht] will come soon. Charlie 'in great spirits' about his election; fine of H[ugh] Bell to stand [as Liberal candidate for the City of London]. Hope Elizabeth finds a good cob [horse] soon.

Welcombe, Stratford on Avon. - Elizabeth seems to have had more snow than they have at Welcombe. Will be very good to see her and Robert again; asks if they will stop a night on the way through London, or prefer to get home then come after they are settled. Is thinking of hosting 'a weekly dinner on Tuesdays in March, & a "small & early for MP's & young people afterwards'; Elizabeth and Robert must come to one. Henry James arrived last night and is 'most amusing & delightful on his American experiences'. Audrey T[revelyan] and the Bells are coming today. She and Sir George go to London on 23 February. Will give Elizabeth her club subscription when she returns; she will then have to make enquiries about which is the best club and change next year; Caroline thinks the Gr[osvenor] Cr[escent] club has 'become very common & inferior'. Is glad Elizabeth saw Shelley's villa; the coast where Byron burnt his body is 'wierd [sic] & beautiful too'. Asks if she has read Mrs Shelley's "Life" of her husband, which Caroline thinks is better than [Edward] Dowden's. Mary has had to give up nursing Pauline, having done too much over the election and got run down. Charlie has accepted the position of Parliamentary Charity Commissioner, which is unpaid and not much work, but 'keeps him "in the running"'.

Wallington, Cambo, Northumberland. - Mary Bell has been to stay with her parents; the father 'very nice, clever & pleasant'; the mother 'has an unfortunate manner & voice' and sometimes 'talks a little foolishly', but she is sure she is very 'kind & good, & seems sensible in practical matters'. Mary was 'beaming & happy, & much quieter', so they all got on well. Hopes that Elizabeth is well and that business [about the new house?] is going well. They are going tomorrow to Rownton Grange [sic: Rounton, the Bells' home]; she goes to Welcombe on Thursday.

Wallington, Cambo, Northumberland. - Elizabeth and Robert are very kind about Charlie's engagement; she and Sir George are 'more & more satisfied about it', as Mary 'writes very nicely', and Charlie is 'extremely happy in a quieter way' so she thinks 'her influence must be good'. The family are 'very well thought of' and her father has been 'frank and sensible'. Thinks Mary was much in love when she was here 'and found it difficult to behave quietly'. Charlie likes the family; hopes they will visit next month. The Bells are going to Berlin for a fortnight while Charlie goes to his constituency. Has had many letter; 'rather an undertaking' to have two sons engaged at once. Hope Elizabeth and Robert soon have their agreement so that the architect 'can get to work [on the new house at Leith Hill' in the fine autumn weather'. They are going to Belsay [home of the Middletons] and she will tell them why Elizabeth could not come. Dr [Thomas?] and Mrs Hodgkin, Mr [Herbert?] Paul, Sir John and Lady Evans, and the Henry Gregs are all staying; they are 'agreeable & easily amused'. Would like to asks the Russells back again, but next week must be quiet, and there is 'so much to settle'. A postscript says she knows Elizabeth will tell her about Holland when it is settled.

Wallington, Cambo, Northumberland. - Glad all in order at home, and that Elizabeth and Robert enjoyed their stay at Wallington; wishes the weather had been better so they could have made more excursions. Now very cold, but yesterday was 'delightful' and they drove in the afternoon to Capheaton for a sale of some of Sir John [Swinburne]'s cattle. Miss Fitch recovered quickly and left yesterday, returning all the books; the good uncle [Charles Augustus Fitch?] will be relieved. Glad to hear the negotiations with the V[aughan] W[illiams]s are 'satisfactory' and that they 'propose a lower rent'; hopes the agreement will be drawn up and the architect will get to work soon. Has been reading Madame de Lieven's memoirs; they are 'amusing up to a certain point', but she thinks her 'much over-rated'. Thinks George has returned from Wales; Charlie has gone to visit the Bells before 'starting his campaign of speaking'. 'Old Anne' is visiting, and Booa [Mary Prestwich] is very happy; Booa hopes Elizabeth got the parcel. Asks whether Elizabeth is having friends to stay, and whether she wants a melon, also whether she is quite well again. Glad she enjoyed the music at Chillingham; hopes she finds a good violin before long but it is right not to hurry. Has been looking through her autumn and winter clothes. A separate sheet says she thinks it is possible to get good dogs cheaply from the Dogs Home in Battersea. If Elizabeth wants a Dandy [Dinmont] 'like Pepper' they can get one in Wallington. Annie [Philips] also knows about them.

Wallington, Cambo, Morpeth. - The first letter he has written to Robert in France [with the Friends War Victims Relief Committee]; is unsure what is safe to put in; will take his cue from Robert. Glad that Elizabeth will have friends staying with her while Robert is away and Julian is at school. Charles has let his London house to his friend Buckner; supposes he will stay at his father-in-law's when Parliament begins its session. George has returned to Italy; what he and his comrades has done seems to be greatly appreciated; [the Italians] are 'a delightful people, worthy of their great past'. Has just finished the letters of Pliny, which he first read thirty-eight years ago at Nanty-frith [sic: Nant-y-Ffrith]; then he disliked Pliny's 'egotism and naïve vanity' so much that he has not touched them since, but he must be 'more charitable, or easy to be pleased' now; glad to find 'how much good Roman feeling had survived the bad emperors, and how grand a fellow Trajan was'.

95 Sloane Street, S.W.1. [home of Sir Hugh Bell], sent to Julian at Trinity College and forwarded to 11 Malcolm Street, Cambridge. - Asks Julian to 'forgive the typewriter' and thanks him; wanted to 'verify a quotation' in a French [?] book.

The Shiffolds, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking. - Thanks his mother for her [birthday?] present, especially as she has allowed him to exchange it: instead of a box for 'wax vestas', which he does not use as 'wood matches are better for lighting pipes', Bessie has chosen 'two very pretty pewter candlesticks, modern, but of an old pattern' from the same shop; they will be 'very useful' in one of the bedrooms.

Received from Withers this morning 'a draft of a letter which he proposes sending to Mr Philipson' [acting for the other party in the matter of the will of Florence Cacciola Trevelyan], which he expects his father will have seen by now; has written approving it and consenting to its despatch if his father approves'.

Bessie has gone into Dorking today, though it is a 'horrid day'. Saw Charles, Molly, and Sir Hugh Bell yesterday, at 'the Irish plays at the Court', who 'seemed quite well'; Elsa [Richmond, Molly's sister] has been 'rather ill' but Robert understands she is recovering. Synge's Playboy of the Western World is 'firstclass, and wonderfully acted'.

British Red Cross Society, First British Ambulance Unit for Italy, Intendenza IIIa Armata, Zona di Guerra. - Thanks Bob for the 'paper re Molly's moves', which he has signed and sent back to Sir Hugh Bell. Glad to hear where Bob was and what he was doing; expects the work of [the Friends War Victims Relief Committee] will 'come in more than ever' during the armistice, whenever that begins, and 'a library if well chosen may be very much to the point'. Sorry to hear about the death of Bass [Sebastian Burtt?] Meyer's brother [Philip?]; if Bob sees Meyer, he should tell him that George's unit 'hope to get the Star lorry on the road again before demobilization': he will understand. George's unit have had a 'quiet year', except for one week in June. He has started writing again, and the 'beauty of the sub Alps and Iuganeans [Euganean Hills]... is in itself a resource'. Notes in a postscript that the unit's base is 'within 2 miles of Petrarch's house' [at Arquà] which is as genuine as [Shakespeare's] house at Stratford, with the 'cat that was in his room when he died' stuffed and mounted over the door of the room.