Item 92 - Letter from R. C. Trevelyan to Paul François Hubrecht

The Mill House, Westcott, Dorking. - Hopes Uncle Paul has the 'same delightful weather' as they do: it is 'almost too hot'. Bessie is well except for a 'cold in her throat'. Hopes Uncle Paul's rheumatism has gone. Their 'Dutch bulbs' are doing well: the hyacinths are 'splendid', and though Bessie thinks she planted the tulips too deeply, the flowers are 'very good'. The crocuses were over when they came [back from Italy]. The birds are singing: he heard 'several nightingales yesterday'. Roger and Helen Fry's son Julian is a 'very healthy looking young man, and his parents seem very happy with him'; though his 'chin and lower jaw are small and undeveloped', Bessie says that is often the case with babies, and 'Johannes Röntgen used to be even worse'. Roger and Helen Fry seem 'quite well now'. Has been reading the Hans Andersen which Uncle Paul and Aunt Maria gave him alongside a German version and thinks he will 'get on quite fast' with his German. They have put the photograph of Aunt Maria which Bessie brought back on the mantelpiece of the library, where they sit in the evening; it is the one from a couple of years ago, which resembles 'Bramine's last picture' of her; he likes having it there as it reminds him of her as he 'first knew her'. However, she did not change much for him even after she became very ill; even last winter [just before her death], her 'cheerful and kind face and expression' were 'essentially the same'. Hopes Tuttie is well. They much enjoyed their recent stay at the Hague, and were 'made very comfortable' and looked after well by Tuttie.