1931 July to December
From LJT to Annette (undated)
The Royal Empire Society
(formerly the Royal Colonial Institute)
Northumberland Avenue
London, W.C.2.
My darling Annette
I enjoyed the letters from you and Rosemary very much. I should love to come and see the play if I possibly can. I wonder when it is.
Did I tell you last week that I am coming down on Sunday to take you out to lunch with Jane Miller’s Granny, who lives quite close to South Hall. I shall come down by train and I think I shall be with you about 12 o’clock. It will be lovely to see you again.
I have had such an interesting time to-day. I was taken all round the House of Commons by a friend and then had lunch there We went down into the crypt (what in these modern days we call a basement) and saw the door leading into the passages in which Guy Fawkes was arrested.
There were a pile of letters waiting for me when I got back from a week-end visit to Uncle Frank and Auntie May Townend at Shalford. I was so busy answering them that I did not manage to write to you and Rosemary this morning and am now writing from my club. Its very nice to hear that you have got on sufficiently well with your piano to play at a musical entertainment.
We have already got some nice plans for the holidays I will tell you about them on Sunday.
Best love my darling and a big big hug
from
Mummy
From LJT to Annette and Rosemary
The Royal Empire Society
(formerly the Royal Colonial Institute)
Northumberland Avenue
London, W.C.2.
14. 7. 31.
My darlings
This is just a hurried little joint letter to you both, because I meant to find time to buy you some picture post-cards – but had to take refuge in a taxi and go in it to the Club where I was having tea, and when I got away from tea the shops were shut.
I hated saying good-bye to you on Sunday and hope you were not too tired after your week-end. It was fun, was’nt it?
Sammy was so pleased to see me when I got back to Golders Green. I have really only slept and had breakfast there and have been out all yesterday and to-day shopping and seeing people. I am just waiting for Uncle Roy to come and have dinner with me now. Daddy seems to have been spending most of his time picking black currents. He is being very useful to Auntie is’nt he?
How is Rosemary’s wrist? I hope it is better –
What fun to think that on this day fortnight we shall all be home.
I wonder whether you will be able to read this scrawly writing. I hope you will.
Best love and big hugs to you both. It was lovely seeing you over the week-end.
Mummy
From LJT to Annette
Highways
Great Leighs
Nr Chelmsford
21. 7. 31
My darling Annette
Your letters are always a pleasure to read. They are so tidy and nicely written. I do hope you will manage to keep up your standard of writing. So many young people, in these days, have an idea that it is clever and smart to let their writing degenerate into an illegible scrawl and it is such a pity. I am glad to hear that the book has come at last. I heard from the editor of “Time and Tide” who said that your letter had never reached them – but that may have been only an excuse for their own forgetfulness - I am glad you have done well in the drawing exams and hope that the playing of the Flower Dance was a success.
Auntie Doris came back unexpectedly and persuaded me to stay till Saturday morning. We went to the Acedemy on Friday afternoon There are some very nice things there, but not a great many There are such a lot of pictures in the very modern styles, which I cannot understand at all. They seem to be so hideous and deformed. I should really like to talk to someone who likes and professes to understand them.
A couple of days before I had been to see an exhibition of sculpture by the famous Rodin. His work is glorious and full of life.
I left Golders Green quite early on Saturday morning and was back here by 11 o’clock. Auntie and I have been out to try to play tennis the last two afternoons, but it has really been too wet to enjoy it much though we had a few setts yesterday.
It is fun to think that you will be home so soon Either Peggy or I will meet you at 4.16. at Charing X on Monday
Best love, my darling
From
Mummy
From LJT to Annette
Carlton Hotel
Le Touquet
France
24.9.31
My darling Annette
It seems more than four days since we said good-bye to you. I thought of you both often yesterday, especially about 3 o’clock when I pictured you just getting settled in the train. I do hope you did not forget any of the little things you had to take in your cases.
It was such a relief to me to find that Daddy stood driving the car and crossing the Channel so well. it was nice that he was able to come straight here instead of staying a night in Calais – which is rather a dirty and noisy little town. This is a delightful little sea side place – quite small but possessing two or three enormous hotels and lots of smaller ones, of which this is one. It has an enormous stretch of sandy beach – the biggest I have ever seen. It is, as you know the real Paris Plage. There is a wide open space, laid out in smooth lawn, between the top of the beach and the houses and at the top of the beach has recently been built a large open air swimming bath, filled with warmed salt water. It is much bigger than the Saturday Club bath and is very pretty – white and blue – really a lovely place. If only the weather had been a little warmer and the sun had been out it would have been nice to have bathed in it. Behind and all round Le Touquet are sand dunes and pine forest – very attractive Daddy and I are just going to walk inland into the forest. We went for a short drive in the car yesterday afternoon, after spending the morning exploring the twon and watching the people on the beach.
We leave here to-morrow morning for Dieppe, where we shall only stay one night and move on to Rouen the following day, where
(rest of letter missing)
From LJT to Annette
Hostellerie de la Marjolaine
Rue Levavasseur
Dinard
France
(undated)
My darling Annette
It was such a pleasure to find a big budget of letters waiting for us here yesterday. It seemed a long time since we had heard anything from home, though, of course, it was really only a week since we left. I was glad to hear that you were comfortably settled down at school and that Rosemary’s knee and elbow are better. I am sorry I did not send your fawn coats. The weather was so cold when I left I really did not think you would want them. I am very glad you are going to get some use out of your green silk dresses this term.
Our week’s trip through Normandy has been very interesting and Daddy has stood it wonderfully well – at the same time we were glad to get here yesterday and feel that we can settle down for a week or two. its nice to unpack and spread out one’s belongings, instead of just pulling what one wants for one night out of a suit case. This seems to be a very pretty place and if only the weather is fine I think we shall like it. It is rather like parts of the Cornish coast – very much indented, with sandy bays and rocky headlands. I am thankful to say that it is fine this morning and we are going out to explore as soon as Daddy is dressed.
When I undid my big trunk for the first time last night and opened the little drawers, the smell of lavender from your lavender bags was delicious.
It is splendid that your garden is so well. I expect you have to thank the wet summer for that. Why don’t you ask Auntie, when she is tidying up her rockery, to send you a few little bits of hardy things from it in a parcel – The Autumn is the time to plant them and then you will have something in flower in the spring.
It has been very interesting coming right along through Northern France. For the first two days we drove through high rolling country, with no hedges and practically all ploughed land – growing big crops of wheat I should imagine. Gradually – round Rouen there was a good deal more land under grass and big brown and white cattle grazing on it. Orchards of apples also began to appear. Yesterday, when we got into Brittany the country became much more like most parts of England. The fields were smaller and split up by hedges – some were ploughed land and some grass – but the most marked feature was the enormous apple orchards – looking lovely now, with their trees crammed with bright red apples – just ready to be picked for making cider. Normandy is full of fine old towns, with really wonderful Cathedrals and huge churches, dating back more often than not, to the Xth XIIIth and XIV centuries. There are a great many fascinating old houses, of the same sort as we see pictured in the London before the great fire of 1666. They are structurally made of wooden beams and the walls filled in with brick, stone or plaster according to what the surrounding country produces. In many cases the wooden parts are carved where-ever they show and the effect is quaint and picturesque. The Lewin’s house is something in this style, you know – but it has not much carving on it.
From Rouen we drove just over 80 miles to Caen the old capital of Normandy – and we went via a fascinating old town, Liseaux, which has more of these old houses than I have ever seen anywhere and two great Cathedral churches. Caen is a big busy town with great stone quarries near it. Daddy says that the stone of which Canterbury Cathedral is built was brought from there. It again, is a town full of old churches and old houses. The very interesting thing about it is that the town is dominated by two great Norman churches, one built by William the Conqueror and one by his wife Queen Matilda in expiation of the sin they had committed in marrying within the degrees of relationship forbidden by the Church. In those days they were the churches attached the one to the Abbé des Hommes and the other to the Abbé des femmes. Matilda’s church is still attached to a big Convent. They are magnificent buildings, both in the great simple solid Norman style, with huge round arches and great round pillars. They were built before William set out to conquer England. The contrast between them and the very very elaborate Gothic churches we had been seeing and which date from the 13th and 14th Centuries – with their pointed arches, flying buttresses and enormously elaborate detail of carving, is tremendously marked. It is more extra-ordinary to read the history of these northern Norman towns and see how each of them have been captured time and time again by the English and sometimes held for 100 or 200 years. Our next night we spent at Avranches – an attractive little city set right up on top of a hill. Now at Dinard, we are in the modern world again. I do not think that this is an old place. It is just a very pretty sea-side place, with lots of hotels, villas and casinos.
I have rambled on at great length. I hope it does not bore you to hear where we have been. I am sending the enclosed map – so that you can follow and mark our route on it. From here on we shall not follow the red line, but probably go down by the way I have pencilled to St Jean de Luz near Biarritz.
Best love and lots of kisses darling
from
Mummy
From LJT to Annette
Hostellerie de la Marjolaine
Dinard
I and V
France
Oct. 7th. 1931
My darling Annette
Your nice letter enclosing the programme of the concert has just arrived. Shakespeare’s songs are delightful, are’nt they – and I am very fond of some of Cousin roger’s settings to them. You seem to have lots of ideas for work this term. I am always glad when I hear that you are learning to do things that are useful. I thought the sawing and handwork on show at St Monica’s Speech Day last December very good indeed.
We have made up our minds to stay here till next Monday or perhaps even a little longer as Daddy has not been feeling very well. I came to the conclusion yesterday that he must have a touch of fever – that same sort of low fever that he used to get in Jalpaiguri – so I dosed him with quinine and I think he seems better this morning, though, as he has only just started getting up it is a little difficult to tell. I do hope the trouble is due to fever and not just to his back, for fever one knows about and can cope with (tiresome thing that it is!) but this business of his back is so indefinite. In some ways this place suits us quite well. It is a nice little homely hotel – quite cheap and with good food. When the weather is fine it is very pleasant sitting on or near the beach, but what I don’t like about it is that it is too much of a town, and except for the very pretty walk along the sea front, one has to go a long way through streets before getting into the country.
Later We went across to lunch and spent most of the day with our French friends, the count and Countess Saint Foix on Sunday. We were all very pleased to see one another again and I was interested to see their house. We were lucky to see them at all, as they were just about to go away to Paris.
We have had some lovely days since we have been here. Monday was like the middle of summer – a cloudless blue sky and a turquoise sea. Daddy and I took a short walk and sat on the beach in the morning Then, as he was rather tired, he decided to lie down in the afternoon, and I went across to St Malo by the ferry, and explored the town. It is an old strong-hold for pirates and slave traders and it looks the part. It is the only town I have seen built entirely inside high ramparts I walked right round the town on top of these high walls, which in most places are wide enough to drive a motor car along the top of them. St Malo was once an island, but was joined up to the mainland by a causeway and now a wide sandy beach has silted up on the sea side and the inner side has been turned into docks. Still, walking round the top of the walls, one gets the impression that the town is girdled by the sea as well. At the only place where it is not, a castle, still in good repair and used as barrecks and a museum guards the approach from the causeway. Altogether St Malo is an interesting place to see, but not, I should think, at all a nice one to live in. The houses are very tall and crowded to-gether, and the streets so narrow that even on that glorious afternoon, scarcely any sunshine penetrated into them. Outside the ramparts it was a different matter. One looked down upon beaches of golden sand and piles of rocks – with blue sea beyond dotted with rocks and small islands. I went over the Museum, which is said to contain an Exhibition of Breton Art and Industrie. It is a very good collection and most interesting. It seems to tell of a simpler time when people carved their own furniture, made their own lace and embroidered their own clothes after traditional patterns and fashions. There were numbers of figures dressed in all the different Breton styles – cases full of old lace and embroideries – china, furniture etc. Some small rooms had been arranged exactly like old Breton rooms. There was a Fisherman’s “parlour” – a cottage kitchen, with a big open grate and so on. I think you would have loved it!
It looked so fine on Monday evening that I thought we were in for a spell of settled weather but it was very much the reverse and rained most of yesterday. Perhaps it was a good thing, because Daddy stayed quietly indoors, dosed heavily with quinine – and I wrote a lot of letters and did sewing and washing. The weather cleared a little after tea and I went out for quite a nice walk then and did not get back till nearly dinner time, when it was almost dark.
To-day is a curious day. The sun has been shining brilliantly most of the day. There is a high wind and the sea is a sheet of lovely deep blues and greens with little “white horses” gambling on top of it – one of the prettiest days you could imagine – but every now and again a huge black cloud comes up, and quite suddenly rain pours down in sheets for five or ten minutes – the cloud rolls by and the sun comes out brilliantly again. Daddy and I had to shelter from one such storm in a Café this morning. This afternoon I brought my writing onto the beach – but had to scamper for shelter soon after I came down, while rain poured down in torrents. it passed and the sun has been shining brilliantly ever since. I am sitting on a rock writing now and the wind blows my paper about. I hope the letter is not quite illegible. I wrote a little of it before I came out this morning.
I wonder if you remembered that to-morrow (Oct 8th) is Richard’s birthday. Daddy and I are giving him a 3 speed gear for his bicycle.
Has there been any bother about your not having 3 green blouses? I hope not.
Best love and lots of kisses
from
Mummy
From LJT to Annette
Hostellerie de la Marjolaine
Rue Levavasseur
Dinard
(Ille et Vilaine
Oct 14th 1931
My darling Annette
We were sorry to hear that you felt giddy and fell over in church on Sunday. You are taking after Auntie, who always used to be teased when she was a little girl, about having “funny feelings” on Sunday mornings. I hope you have been feeling quite well since.
I’m glad you liked Huckleberry Finn. I think it is an adorable book. I did not read it till I was grown up, but it made me laugh tremendously. Dont you think it was good idea of Huck’s to give up persimmons, because they were’nt in season and he did’nt like them anyhow?
Daddy did not seem to be getting any better so I persuaded him to see a doctor, and he was thoroughly overhauled yesterday. The doctor says that Daddy is not only suffering from the effects of the bullet, but also that his liver and spleen are out of order probably as a result of long years in India and having a great deal of fever. He has put him on a diet and given him three different sorts of medicine to take and hope that in about ten days he will feel very much better. We shall therefore stay here for at least another fortnight, so that we can keep in touch with the doctor and also stick to Daddy’s diet which this little hotel do very nicely for him, but which would be difficult if we were moving about. I think Daddy is relieved to find that there is some definite reason for his feeling so slack and out of sorts and he has been more cheerful since he saw the doctor. This doctor is a French man, who does not talk English but luckily we found him quite easy to understand.
You can go on sending your letters direct here, till I tell you otherwise, but will you remember to put 2 ½ d in stamps and not only 1 ½ d as you did this time.
I have been feeling very worried about the Christian Science books you want. As I told you, Daddy was so angry at the mere mention of Christian Science, that he almost made himself ill. It seems impossible to persuade him that there is any good in it. I really know very little about it myself though I should like to learn more. However I feel that now, while Daddy is still ill, is not the moment to speak to him about it. At the same time I do not think it is quite right – not quite “playing the game” – to do anything behind his back. I feel confident that if we wait and pray patiently and try to cling on to our faith, which after all is the main truth of Christian Science, opportunities for study of it will come later.
I am terribly sorry if this is a great disappointment to you. I have given much anxious thought to the matter, but I do not feel that the right way to start doing good, is by doing something underhand or something selfish – and we should have to choose between those two courses now – for I do think that to confront Daddy with a problem just now, that would worry and annoy him to the extreme, would be selfish. When he is quite well again and not so easily upset it may be possible to tackle the matter.
Now, my darling, we must be underhand to this extent. You must not on any account mention this matter in your letters to me, as Daddy likes to see them, and I am sure it would upset him, were the subject so much as mentioned. You do understand this, don’t you?
Now about one of the other things you mention on your list – that is “one of the little chains you get in France, with a cross on the end”. I don’t quite know what you mean by that. Is it a chain to wear round your neck or do you mean a Rosary like the roman Catholics and Budhists use for counting their prayers on? Will you try to explain a little more fully what it is that you mean, so that I can try to get it for you. You might keep your ears open and let me know later on whether there is anything that Rosemary particularly wants for Xmas.
Will you give the enclosed note to Miss Mann? It is about your birthday cake. I am sorry I am not near enough to come down to see you near your birthday time. I am afraid Auntie will not be able to either – though she says she do her best to go down to see you some time in November. By the way, have you remembered that it is Auntie’s birthday on the 18th? Do try to write a letter or send per a post card, will you? How I wish I could see her face when she opens the box with the fur coat in it!!
We have been having such lovely weather for some days past. No wind, bright sun and brilliant blue skies. The tide has been going out an incredible distance. It is the season of the lowest and highest tides of the year. Rocks and sand banks innumerable have been uncovered and fisher people and heaps of others, go out with baskets and bags to collect shell fish and all sorts of things off the rocks and out of the pools. We have found it very amusing watching them.
Daddy and I were clambering about on some rocks which are not often uncovered by the tide and noticed a low hissing sound coming from all round us. After looking carefully at the rocks, we came to the conclusion that it came from the limpets, of which there were hundreds on the rocks – and each one of which seemed to be moving uneasily. We have noticed the same thing on other rocks since – and Daddy says it quite gives him the creeps.
I suppose you are hearing something about this exciting election at which we are to choose, as a people, whether we will have a National Government, which, composed of all the political parties, will do its best to put the affairs of the Nation in order again, or whether we will have a Socialist Government and become a Socialist state. I rather wish I were in England so that I could do something, however little, to help the Nationalist cause.
Dear! Dear! What a long letter I have written to you. I hope you will be able to read it and not be bored by it.
Best love and lots of kisses from Mummy
From LJT to Annette
Hostellerie de la Marjolaine
Rue Levavasseur
Dinard
(Ille et Vilaine
Oct 20th 1931
My darling Annette
Many happy returns of your birthday. I do hope this will reach you on the right day and also that our presents will arrive on the right day. Auntie Cecil was going to have them sent off for me.
Miss Mann is very kindly seeing about a birthday cake for you – so I hope you will have a nice tea and a happy birthday. How I wish I could fly over and give you a good hug. I put the packet full of photos, which is part of my present to you, into your trunk and asked Nannie to keep them for you – so, if by any chance she has forgotten, will you ask if she has got them. If I were you I should possess my soul in patience and wait till the Easter holidays to stick the photos in. Then I shall be able to help you sort them out into the proper order according to age, and get you some of those sticky papers for putting them into your album.
It was nice for you going out with your friend and having a present of sweets.
Daddy seems to be getting better and he is certainly more cheerful. The weather is really lovely. It is very like the cold weather in Jalpaiguri. We generally go out about half past ten and walk for about an hour. Then we choose some nice bench in the sun, with a good view out to sea or over the harbour and Daddy reads the newspaper and I do my knitting I have nearly finished the back of Rosemary’s cardigan, just in odd times like that. The directions for knitting the pockets on the fronts sound rather complicated, but I hope they wont prove so when I come to do them.
Sometimes after tea – which I make in our room with the tea-basket kettle and which we drink out of the red cups which you got at Woolworths – Dad reads aloud to me while I sew – I enjoy that very much. He was reading a very interesting book last night. It was a novel, but the story was really only an excuse to tell about big game shooting in Africa. There seem to be such an enormous variety of animals in Africa – far more than there are in India “Nannie” has just gone back to India. Her boat passed Marseilles on Saturday. I am very sorry we were not able to see her while she was in England.
I have been some very pretty walks lately. There is a lovely path along the face of the cliffs above the river, which continues for some miles. The cliffs are covered with trees, and it is so pretty looking through the foliage at the blue river below – At some points one gets views back out to sea as well. Its really lovely.
Unfortunately it is too long a walk for Daddy at present, but I hope perhaps he will be strong enough to do it before we leave here.
I have not heard from Auntie Cecil how Pam and Betty are getting on at school. In fact I have not had any answer from her to the letter I wrote about your presents. I do hope she received it alright and that the things will reach you safely.
My memory about things that happened when I was twelve years old, is very vivid. We moved from Bush Hill House in Middlesex, to Southsea. Somehow at that move I seemed to leave behind so many of the things I had been interested in since I was a baby – my wigwam, my garden and all the nooks and corners of the garden and fields and little woods where I had played for days on end. At Southsea – just after my 12th birthday, I went to a day school for the first time and oddly enough, though I can remember the school and the girls, I have no recollection of my first day there.
Well! You have got a start of me, having had a year at school already. I hope your 13th year (from now till you are 13) will be a very happy one – Will you give my very kind regards and thanks to Miss Mann for her letter and say I will answer it soon – Dont forget this message will you?
Best love, my darling and a special big hug for your birthday
(here she has written ‘Joan’ and crossed it out)
Mummy!
How silly of me to write “Joan” instead of “Mummy” was’nt it?
From LJT to Annette
Hostellerie de la Marjolaine
Rue Levavasseur
I and V
France
Oct 29th 1931
My darling Annette
Thank you very much for your letter. I am so glad the birthday cake was nice. From your description it certainly sounds very pretty. It’s sad about the wasp-sting. I hope it is much better by this time. They can be such very painful things.
I am sorry that I am late writing this week. You must blame the Election for it! A nice lady here who has a wireless set, gave a supper and bridge party on Tuesday with the purpose of having the wireless on and hearing the Election results as they came through. Most of the people went away about 2 o’clock, but she and I were so excited that we stayed up till the B.B.C shut down at 4 o’clock in the morning. The result was that I slept till our breakfast came at 8.30 yesterday morning and had to bath and breakfast afterwards so was only ready just in time to go out with Dad. After lunch I felt so sleepy I had to have a little rest – and then went for another walk with Dad and had some people to tea. After tea Election results again – and after dinner a lot of general news about the Election on the Wireless – so I seemed to have no time for letters. Have you been hearing anything about the Election at School? It has been a wonderfully thrilling time and indeed for the whole world.
It interests me very much to think of you at St Monica’s. I wonder how you like it. I suppose you had scarcely been up long enough to know when you wrote last week. Are you sleeping in the main school building or in one of the new houses?
I am enclosing Rosemary’s letter in yours, because, at the present rate of exchange, every letter from France to England costs 3d 1/4d and it seems a pity to pay that twice over if it can be avoided. Tell me, however, if it is difficult to get the letter sent across and I will post it separately.
I am thankful to say that Daddy seems to be making quite good progress. The doctor came to see him on Monday and was pleased with him. He has told him to keep on the same diet, but take some different medicines. He wants him to go and spend a few months in the mountains, so instead of going to Saint-Jean—de Luz, which is on the sea, we are going to some place in the Pyrenees. The doctor wants Daddy to go somewhere high up, where there will be snow and where the air is full of oxygen. I am very pleased, because I love mountains, and I hope that when Daddy gets there, he will feel better and may like to join in the Winter Sports, which would be great fun.
I gather from the papers, that you have been having very cold weather in England. It has been a good deal colder over here and we have had rain on some days lately. Daddy has been walking further, lately and going out in afternoons as well as in the mornings. We went into a sort of public “Park” at St Servan the other day – It was not exactly a park, but a sort of wooded hill above the River, with paths all about it and lots of seats. The seats looked as if they were rustic benches made of tree trunks and branches of different sorts, but wen one came to look closely at them one found that they were made of concrete! I was surprised! They were very cleverly done and each one seemed to be different. Is’nt it a quaint idea? Our friends Mr. and Mrs. Rae have gone away to-day. We shall miss them as we used to meet them practically every morning when we were out.
You can write here quite safely next Sunday, because, at earliest, we shall not leave till Wednesday and I doubt whether we shall do so then.
Best love, my darling and good luck to you in the new school.
Your loving
Mummy
Dont forget to get Rosemary’s letter for me from her will you?
From LJT to Annette
Hostellerie de la Marjolaine
Rue Levavasseur
Dinard
Ile et Vilaine
Nov 4th 1931
My darling Annette
Many thanks for your letter. The “All Hallow’s E’en” party must have been great fun. I remember the Scotch girls entertained the English girls to a Hallow E’en party the first year I was at St Monica’s. We had to wear our gym dresses and overalls and we ate treacle buns, hung up on strings bobbed for apples and did all sorts of other funny things. It was very amusing.
It is nice to hear that you are going to be a Guide. Yes! I expect they will put your uniform on the bill. If you are asked about it, will you please ask them to do so.
Congratulations on being moved up into a higher division for French. I am particularly pleased that you are doing well at it, for you will find it an unending blessing being able to speak French fluently when you grow up and travel.
I am glad to be able to give you quite a good report of Daddy. He really seems to be getting better and the doctor was quite pleased with him on Monday. We have practically made up our minds to leave here next Wednesday but it will be alright for you to address your letter here next Sunday. I get it by the first post on Tuesday morning. I shall let you know later where to write the following week. It is about 700 miles from here down to the Pyrénées and we shall go very slowly and stay at a great many places on the way. We shall be able to see several famous “chateaux”, as well as cathedrals and churches. We have met some people here who spend three or four months every summer motoring about France. They are very keen about churches and cathedrals and especially about stained glass windows, which also interest me very much. They have lent me several books which I am reading with great interest and at the same time making notes in a little note book that I can carry with me. I have learnt a great deal more about stained glass than I ever knew before. Daddy and I have been taken up to the garden of a big house here where, as the owner is away, all the fruit from the garden is being sold. The head gardener is an Englishman, who has been there for 43 years. He is an interesting old chap to talk to and we generally stay and have a long chat when we go to buy fruit. He told us a thing that interested me very much the other day. His brother was head gardener to Lord Tennyson the poet. Our friend went to stay with his brother once and says he well remembers Lord Tennyson walking about in the garden in a long black cloak and wide brimmed black felt hat. He was very fond of the gardener, who was one of the few people who was allowed to go into his study. One day the gardener took his brother in and he says he well remembers reading a few lines of poetry which were lying on Lord Tennyson’s desk. It happens that they were one of the last things he wrote. One line was something about “Over the burning mountains” I don’t recognise it, but must see if I can find it when I come home.
I cut the enclosed piece out of the newspaper as I thought it might interest you. Its extraordinary how often we use expressions wrongly, is’nt it? “Different to” is one of the things that always annoys me but its a thing which people constantly say. If a thing is different, of course it must be “different from”
We have had some more lovely sunny days – but it was very stormy last night and has been raining this morning. Daddy and I went for a walk in spite of it – and this afternoon we are going out to tea with some people who know the Pyrenees very well and who have promised to advise us about the best places to visit there.
You did not say anything in your letter about Rosemary’s letters. Is there any difficulty about sending them across to her?
Uncle Harry, Auntie Winsome and Johnnie sail from Tilbury on Friday. Auntie will feel very odd with the house quite empty again, wont she? She has had it full of people ever since last Easter Holidays.
Best love, my darling and lots of kisses from
Mummy
Dad sends his love
From LJT to Annette
as from
Poste Restante
Tours
Indre-et-Loire
France
Nov 11th 1931
My darling Annette
The address I have put at the top of this letter is where I want you to send your letter on Sunday. As a matter of fact we shall not arrive there till Saturday or Sunday and we shall stay there till Wednesday. We left Dinard this morning and drove 66 miles to a little place called Vitré. It is a very picturesque little old town, with a Chateau on top of a hill, which looks like the fairy-book castles. it is built of grey stone and has tremendous walls rising up from the top of a cliff on one side and out of a deep moat on the other. It has lots of round towers, with steep roofs like candle extinguishers, and a drawer-bridge that still works. A great many of the houses in the town are very old and lean out over the streets, or even have the 1st storey right out over the pavement, and supported by pillars. Round part of the town the old ramparts still stand and Daddy and I have just been walking along a path below them. It is curious that so many of these old walled towns, with their old houses, have survived in France. There are scarcely any left in England. Chester is about the only one I can think of. To-morrow we go on to a town called Angers on the Loire, where there is an interesting Cathedral and other things to see and we shall stay there two nights before going on to Tours. If you want to follow our wanderings on the map, why don’t you put them in with red ink? To-day we came from Dinard down southwards through Dinan to Rennes, and from there east to Vitré. We continue east to Laval and then South again to Angers and follow the Loire eastwards to Tours.
I am glad your Guide uniform has come. I thought of you at 11 o’clock today. We waited to start till after 11 so that we could join in the three minutes silence. It was eleven years ago to-day that the Unknown Warrior was buried in Westminster Abbey. You know, don’t you, that they took the body at random from amongst the many poor soldiers who were killed in the Great War, and who were not recognized and buried him in Westminster Abbey to symbolize the men who have their lives to protect the rest of Europe from Germany. The French also buried an Unknown Soldier under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. I happened to be staying near Westminster Abbey at the time of the buriel and went into the Abbey on the evening of the day to see the Grave. Four great candles were burning at the four corners of the grave which you probably saw inside the Abbey, when Auntie Do took you there – and four soldiers were standing on duty, whilst a file of people passed slowly past. That procession of people went on for three days from early morning till late at night. So many people who had lost men they loved in the War, wanted to show their love and respect. It was a most wonderful and moving sight. You were just one year old then.
Yesterday (Nov 10th) the King opened this historic Parliament by the National Government Do you remember I took you and Richard to see the King and Queen driving to the Houses of Parliament to open the Parliament of 1924? It was about this time of year, so I suppose you were just five years old. It is the occasion on which the King and Queen wear robes and crowns and ride in the gold coach and Richard said the King looked just like he does on the pennies.
I have wandered a long way from your guide work. I am glad you have passed your Tenderfoot Test and can read morse. I think the signalling is very difficult and to tell you the truth I never did it seriously, because I was dealing with Indian Guides and they take another subject for their test if they wish. Nothing but practice will make you proficient in signalling – just as nothing but practice will make you speak French fluently. It does’nt matter how much you study in books, you must practice as well. Therefore I am glad to hear that you are in the French dining room and do not mind it.
Daddy was just a little bit tired when we arrived here to-day, but not badly so – and after half an hours’ rest and a cup of tea, he was quite ready to come out and explore the town. I do hope the journey down to the south wont tire him again, for he really does seem better.
What fun the bonfire and fireworks must have been. Rosemary seems to have been very thrilled about it.
Would you give the enclosed letters to Miss Mann and to Nannie? They are to remind them that Rosemary’s birthday is on Tuesday 17th so that they may not forget about her cake and her parcels.
The Autumn tints of the trees as we drove along to-day, were so lovely. I am looking forward to driving along the valley of the Loire and hope the leaves will still be on the trees. They are falling rather quickly now, but I suppose hang on more and more the further south we go.
We were sorry to say good-bye to the various friends we made in Dinard. Several people there were very kind indeed to us and we have been out to tea several times this week. Richard writes that he was 2nd in form last fortnight, which I think iis very good. I only hope he is not over working.
Best love, my darling and a big big hug from Mummy
P.S. I am enclosing Richard’s letter as I think perhaps you would both like to see it.
From LJT to Annette
From Bayonne
after 26th Hotel de Pyrénées
Saint Etienne de Baigorry
B. Pyrénées
Nov 24th 1931
My darling Annette
Here we are at the last stage of our journey. We caught a glimpse of the Pyrenees as we drove into Bayonne this morning – You will find Bayonne right down in the South West corner of France near the coast. For about a hundred miles before we got here we were driving through the great forest of the “Landes”. It is a most extra-ordinary thing. These great forests were planted at the end of the eighteenth century to prevent the sand from the great stretch of sand dunes which bordered the coast for a hundred miles or more south of Bordeaux, from blowing in and overwhelming the country inland. The idea was a success and now the huge pine forests stretch about 120 miles along the coast and about 50 miles inland. There are clearings with villages and small towns in them, but not a great many and one goes for miles and miles without seeing any houses at all. It reminded me of driving through the forests in Jalpaiguri –
We are staying in Bayonne over to-morrow, because it is an interesting old town and there are a lot of things to see here. Also we want to do some shopping before we go up to Baigorry, because I don’t suppose there will be many shops there. I do hope your letters will be waiting for us at Baigorry.
Nov 25th I stopped writing last night because Daddy kept on reading aloud and I found it so difficult to get on with my writing. I fancy I sent you a post-card from Perigueux on Friday or Saturday. Perigueux is an attractive town and the most interesting things there are the roman remains and a most fascinating collection of things relating to Prehistoric man. In the neighbourhood of Perigueux a number of caves have been discovered, which have wonderful pictures of animals painted on their walls. In the museum at Perigueux they have one slab of rock with a bit of a picture on it, and they have reproductions of pictures of bison, cattle, deer, wild pig, rhino and horses – all very lively and well done. I asked the man who took me round, how it came about that the paint (red of a sort of dull terracotta shade and black) had endured all these thousands of years. He says that the caves in which these paintings are, are the sort that make stalactites and this same substance that forms the stalactites, has flowed very gradually down the walls of the caves and covered the pictures as with a sheet of glass. Is’nt it wonderful? In the neighbourhood they have found various skulls and skeletons – spear and arrow heads and knives made of flint – carved bones and all sorts of things belonging to Stone Age man, and two enormous mammoth tusks. They have five skulls of different periods of development. Five of them are in a case arranged in order of development. The earliest looks like the skull of some great ape, with its protruding jaw and no bone above the frontal bones over the eyes. The custodian said that so many people thought it was an ape’s skull that they bought the skull of an ape – just to show the contrast. It is there beside the early man – and one can see a distinct difference. The monkey’s skull is actually depressed behind the frontal bones. Scientists think that the earliest man shown here could not talk but would only make certain grunting noises. This they judge from the development of the bones of the throat. The latest of the five skulls looks very like modern man – and they think that it represents the men who drew these fine pictures and who carved bones and made such beautiful flint knives etc. I do wish Daddy and I had had time and energy to visit the caves themselves. They are about eighteen or twenty miles away.
The early part of our drive from Perigueux to Marmande was very pretty – hills and woods and pretty little villages built of the local stone, which is a pleasant deep cream colour and roofed with red tiles. They are much much prettier that the untidy grey villages of northern France. Vineyards became more and more frequent. Bullocks were taking the place of horses for ploughing and drawing carts – and mules for drawing the heavy wagons. The women in the fields were mostly wearing the high crowned broad brimmed black hats, which one also sees in Provance. Marmande was a very pleasant little town on the Garonne, but with nothing of particular interest to see in it and we only stayed the night there. From there on we drove through the Landes – the great pine forests I have told you about. Bayonne we find most attractive. It has a fine Cathedral with lovely stained glass of XIII XIV XV and XVI centuries. While Daddy was dressing and getting his hair cut this morning, I went to see a splendid collection of pictures, which was left to the town by the French painter Bonnat. Two rivers join in the middle of the town – and the rivers themselves and the many bridges which span them, make it so picturesque. Its much much warmer here than it was further north and beautifully sunny.
I had a letter from Auntie this morning, telling of her visit to you. I am so glad you had such a fine day. It was kind of Auntie Florrie to have you to lunch and tea.
Christmas is not very far off now. I have asked Rosemary to send me a list of things that she would like for presents. Will you do the same? I have not forgotten about the cross and chain, but so far have seen none I liked at all – so I possibly may leave it till our return journey. I shall see. I have told Rosemary that I will let you each have 5/- with which to buy Christmas presents – You will want to have a morning’s shopping in London I expect, wont you? I must ask Auntie what she can arrange.
It is fun to think that we are going up into the mountains to-morrow!
Best love, and lots of kisses, my darling
from
Mummy
From LJT to Annette
Hotel des Pyrénées
Saint Etienne de Baigorry
B. Pyrénées
Dec 2nd 1931
My darling Annette
Congratulations on doing so well in your French Exam. What did you get in the way of prizes – or do you not get them till the end of the term? Nothing pleases me more than to hear that you are doing well at French, because learning languages is a thing which does not always catch one’s interest when one is young, nor does one realize how useful it is to have a good working knowledge of French when one grows up.
You seem to have plenty of interesting things going on at St Monica’s. The A.S.C party must have been great fun and the idea of playing different sorts of games for toffees is a good one, that one should keep in memory for future use – It was fun for you having a visit from Auntie Do. I knew that she was staying not far away and rather wondered whether she would manage a visit to you.
Thank you for your list of suggestions for Christmas presents. Its a great help to know here and now what you want. I will say straight away that the Triplex watch glass can be part of my present to you, but you will have to give Auntie your watch when you go home for the holidays and ask her to get it for you.
By the way, if you want your little gold cross and chain that Mrs Petrie gave you for a christening present, I think Auntie has it – that is to say unless you have already got it in your jewel case. Auntie has Rosemarys broach and one or two things belonging to me in a drawer in the top part of the bureau in the drawing room. It is with them I think.
There seems to be a lot I could write to you about this week. We are in a country now where the people and the customs are much more markedly different from ours than in the South of France or any other part of France we have been through, for that matter. The Basques, who inhabit this part of the Pyrenees, both on the French and Spanish side, are a perfectly distinct race and no one seems to know where they came from originally. They are fairly tall, dark haired, dark eyed people, well built and very strong looking, like most mountain people. Their national head-dress is the beret, which has now spread all over France and England. All the men wear berets and as far as I can see, never take them off. They keep them on indoors and sit down to meals in them. The women, on the other hand, seem to scorn any head covering, except a black lace veil, which they put over their heads when they go to church. There is nothing particular about the womens dresses except that a great many of them wear aprons. The men wear trousers, usually black or blue, pulled up rather high and tightly belted round the waist. As often as not they wear no coats, but go about in striped shirts with open necks. when the wear coats they are cut rather short and full or sometimes they wear a sort of waistcoat and no coat – It is a waistcoat with a proper back to it, meant to wear without a coat and not the sort of waistcoat that is meant to go with a suit. Well! I really had not meant to start telling you about the Basques – because that will keep for another letter – I wanted to tell you about Bayonne before I forget it and about our drive up here.
Daddy has just reminded me of two things we came across in Dinars, which we thought would amuse you and which I always forgot to tell you. A great many of the shops there were having “sales” because it was the end of the season and in order to attract the English people a great many of them had put up a notice “Large Bargains”. What they meant of course, was “great bargains” and by useing just the wrong word, which in many cases means so nearly the same thing, they made it sound as it their bargains were only fit fot for the biggest and fattest people. The other thing that made me laugh was when a man in our hotel, referring to a certain Dr. Rice who was also staying there, quite seriously asked me whether I had seen Dr. Curry anywhere!
Now to jump back a week, I want to tell you a little about an excellent picture gallery I saw in Bayonne and also a Museum in an old Basque house, which is entirely devoted to Basque art, history, industries, games, dances and so on – and which also has several rooms furnished in the Basque style. It was very fascinating. In the Basque kitchen there was a great open fireplace and beside it a most ingenious arrangement for roasting joints of meat. There was a spit with a pan under it to catch the grease. The spit was attached by a cogwheel and chain to some other cogwheels high up beside the mantelpiece. Also attached to these cog wheels was a chain with a stone weight on the end of it. By turning a handle this weight could be wound up to the top, and then it slowly dropped by its own weight, turning a cogwheel as it did so, which in turn set the other wheels in motion and turned the spit round and round in front of the fire. When the weight got to the bottom, there was an arrangement which rang a bell so that the cook knew it was time to come and wind up the weight again. There were lots of other rather simple and ingenious devices, which I have not time to tell you about now – and perhaps the most interesting of all – figures representing the Basque dancers and a model of a Basque theatre. I shall have to keep those to tell you about next week.
In some ways Daddy and I have not had very good luck since we arrived here. It was a beautiful day for our drive up here, but the weather broke the next day (Friday) and it began raining that night and went on pouring without ceasing for 36 hours. It was just like rain in Darjeeling. The river rose in flood and about 7 o’clock on Saturday evening it flooded the power station and all the electric lights went out. Then on Saturday there was a Basque wedding at the hotel. They had about 50 people to a lunch which lasted from 1 o’clock till past four. Then the bride and bridegroom and all the guests went away for a bit, but came back at 9.30 for supper and a dance, to music played on a concertina. The dance went on all night and a good deal of singing as well. We had our beds moved up to the second floor and I slept pretty well, but the noise kept Daddy awake most of the night. We were glad for the people to enjoy theirselves, but it made things not very comfortable for us. Although the heavy rain stopped, it went on misting all Sunday, and Monday and yesterday were grey and cold. It was still cloudy this morning, but thank goodness the clouds cleared away in the middle of the morning and it has been a lovely afternoon and looks clear and fine to-night. We had begun to think that if we were never going to see the sun here we would move across to the Riviera.
Have you followed our travels so far on the map? This village will not be marked, but I expect you can find the little town of St Jean-Pied du Port. We are quite near it a little to the north west. St Jean is a little inland from Bayonne, east and a little to the south.
Do tell me, does it bore you to hear about our travels – or do you like reading about what we are seeing and what the people are like and so on? Tell me truthfully for I shant be a bit offened if you are not interested – and it would be a waste of time to go on describing things to you if you do not like hearing about them.
Daddy has not been very grand these last few days. I think the sleepless night and the bad weather affected his spirits rather – but he has been much more cheerful since the sun came out to-day.
Did you manage to get a letter off to Miss Pearce? I do hope you did – for I know she would feel a little sad not to hear from you at Christmas time. I have just been sending off a whole budget of letters and postcards to people in India to take them our Christmas wishes, including Mrs. Kirby at Ada Villa, Capt. Gass and lots of others.
As it is now five minutes to seven and dinner is supposed to be a seven, I must stop and change.
I hope the black frock is a success and that the green blouse is alright.
Best love and a big hug
From your loving
Mummy
From LJT to Annette
Hotel des Pyrénées
Saint Etienne de Baigorry
B. Pyrénées
Dec 8th 1931
My darling Annette
You will perhaps be amused to hear that we are leaving this place on Saturday. Although the scenery is so beautiful here and there are lovely walks, it is rather lonely, because there are no other people staying in the hotel and no one for Daddy to talk to. Also the weather has not been good. We have had one or two lovely days, but for the most part it has been cloudy with a certain amount of rain. Daddy has a fancy to go back to Ste. Maxime, where we were in January and February, so I have written off to the hotel where we stayed there. It is a good distance across to the Riviera from here, as you will see if you look on the map. We shall stay at Pau, Auch, Toulouse, Carcassonne (2 days) Béziers, Nîmes (2 days) Aix-en-Provence and from there we shall go down to Toulon and along the coast to Ste. Maxime. I don’t suppose that will be marked, but it is between Hyreres and St Raphael. I think we shall take 10 days over the journey and arrive in St Maxime on 21st Dec. Next Sunday will you address your letter to us
Poste Restante
Carcassonne
Aude
France.
This would be a lovely place a little earlier in the year and when there are other people staying here – but we have left our visit here a little too late. I think the mountain air has done Daddy good. He is able to walk a good deal further than he was when first we came and has done some quite stiff climbing the last few days.
It was a year ago to-day that he was shot in the back. What a long time it is taking for him to get quite cured, is’nt it?
Let me see. I said I would tell you something about the Basque dancers and theatres, did’nt I? Sad to say we have not been able to see any for their performances are in the open air and take place in the summer. From what I saw in the Museum at Bayonne and from what the custodian told me I gather that the Basques look upon, and manage their dances in something the same way as the Tibetans. That is to say there are certain traditional stories that the “act” by means of dancing and certain traditional costumes which they always wear. For instance the evil spirits are dressed in red, but do not look a bit like our “devils”. To represent men on horses, a queer little horse with a tiny wooden head and a sort of frill round it, is fixed round a man’s waist, in exactly the way I have seen done in dances in Darjeeling. I have a comic post-card of one which I will send you at the end of the week. I should love to have seen one of their dancing shows, as I believe the Basques are very skilled dancers.
For the theatre, they put a wooden platform up on some of the huge wine barrels, which are so much used in all the French wine-growing districts. The “orchestra”, consisting of two or three men playing different stringed instruments and pipes of sorts, sit on more barrels at the back of the stage. Two men, dressed rather like Spanish bull-fighters, sit at the two front corners of the stage and are called “the guardians of the stage”. The play takes place in the centre. In the model theatre in the museum the incident which is taking place is as follows. The English king very resplendent in long robes and a gold crown, has killed or vanquished the Spanish king who lies dead on the ground. Two “demons” wish to bring the Spanish king back to life but the Pope who is the protector of the King of England, steps forward and forbids the demons to do anything of the sort – Unfortunately I don’t know the beginning or the end of the story, but even this one incident gives you some idea of the style of the plays. I think a great many of them are a blend of religion, tradition and history. It was interesting to find the King of England as one of the figures represented, but of course this part of France remained for a very long while under English rule. The Black Prince ruled and fought round about here. He led his troops on one occasion, over the Pass into Spain from St Jean Pied du Port, which is only six miles away from us. It was rather interesting to find that the Cathedral at Bayonne was built during the time when the English were in possession, and that it bears quite a strong resemblance to York Minster. The English Royal Arms appear in one of the bosses in the roof.
Have you ever heard of “Roland” who is the half historic half legendery figure of so many of the early French romances? He corresponds very much in French literature to King Arthur in English, though I think a little more definite history is known about Roland. On our way up here we passed close to a place known as “le Pas de Roland” The old road runs through a great hole in a huge rock, and the legend is that this rock barred the passage of Roland’s army, and he struck it with his sword and made a passage for his men to pass. Another, and more historical incident, took place in the Pass from St Jean Pied du Port. Charlemage’s army was retreating through the Pyrénées by this pass, and Roland and 12 “peers of France” were in command of the rear guard. They stayed so long to protect the retreat, that they were cut off and slain in this pass, but they saved the army. That was in the year 778.
St Jean Pied du Port is an attractive little old town. A fortress stands on a hill in the middle of a wide valley. The really old part of the town clusters round it and is surrounded by a ring of 15th century ramparts, built of the local stone, which (word missing) quite a deep rose red colour. The town evidently grew (word missing) these ramparts and in the 17th century another ring (word missing) were added. The more modern part of the town, stretches outside these again. It is all rather picturesque, because the Basques have clung so faithfully to their own simple, but very pleasant and effective style of architecture. The setting of the little town, with the river Nive, curving round the base of the hill, and the ring of mountains surrounding it is very lovely.
I meant to tell you about the Basque bullock carts, and the sledges on which they draw the logs out of the woods, over ground that is too rough and too steep for carts – and about the pretty little black faced, horned sheep, with the big bells round their necks – but it will take too long, for I have lots of other letters to write. I have got some pictures, which will help to remind me of the places we have seen, so that I shall be able to tell you about them when I come home.
I cut this little piece out of the paper, as I felt sure it would amuse you. It is rather delightful, is’nt it? Many thanks for your letter. I do enjoy hearing all about what you are doing. Please try to send a letter to me next Sunday. I am sure you can easily get stamps – and you can ask Auntie for the money back when you get home. I so (word missing) look forward to Wednesdays when your letters (words missing) you go home? Rosemary says (corner of paper torn off) 14th or 15th. Is it really as early as . . . . . Should you really not write till you . . .be careful to ask Auntie what address to send it to – because we shall be moving from place to place till the 21st.
Walking here is great fun, though it is hard work too. The country is so wild and except for the three main roads, there are nothing but little stony tracks leading up the little valleys and on to the mountains. There are heaps of these and we have been able to find different ways to go every day.
I like hearing about the Guide Party and all the other excitements that you are having before the end of term.
Best love, my darling and lots of hugs and kisses.
from
Mummy
From LJT to Annette
Hotel Beau Site
Ste Maxime
Var
Christmas Day 1931
My darling Annette
You can imagine how much Daddy and I have been thinking about you and all the party at Highways all day to-day. There are such heaps of things I want to know. What you had for presents and whether you liked them – and how much you ate for Christmas Dinner and what the weather was like and if you had nice hymns in Church – and did you do charades and did Auntie Dora laugh till she cried like she did last year? “And whether pigs have wings” – (which somehow seems to be the way that sentence ought to finish up!)
Dad and I have had a pleasant Christmas Day, if not exactly a “Christmassy” one. The weather is heavenly and has been ever since we came. So far we have had none of the strong winds, which bothered us here rather last year. The sun rises every morning, apparantly out of the smooth blue sea, and after shining brilliantly all day, sets in a red glow behind the dark hills across the bay and turns the sea to the colours of opals. It is really hot in the sun in the day – but it gets cold directly it goes down – and we are glad of the well warmed hotel. This morning, after sitting on our balcony, writing letters till about 11 o’clock we went out for a small exploration in the car, up some small roads amongst the hills, to find out good places to start walks from and also fix the positions of the hills clearly in our minds and on the big scale map we have got.
I have told Rosemary about our Christmas lunch – so I wont repeat it all to you. This afternoon we again went out for a short way in the car, and then leaving it – we went a long and lovely walk, up a valley and along a ridge through forest of pine trees and cork trees, lots of the cork trees with the bark stripped off the lower parts of their trunks, and looking, as Dad says, just as if they had come out without their trousers. All the trees and the plants are quite different here from what they were in the Pyrénées – There the woods were mostly oaks – like the English oaks and sweet chestnuts, with a fair sprinkling of ashes and beeches and a lot of silver birches. The heather which covered so many of the hill-sides there looked just like English heather but here the sort of heather or heath that fills the woods and covers the mountains is the great tall plant, four or five feet high, and which bears a white flower in the spring. Oh dear! I never meant to give you an essay on the comparative flora of the Pyrénées and the Montaigns de Maures – as the small group of mountains behind us here are called.
I hope Dad gave you my message when he wrote on Tuesday. It seemed a pity to write on the same day as he did, so I thought I would wait a few days.
When I sent postcards from Nîmes – (or was it from Aix?) I must have told you how frightfully cold the weather was. There were several degrees of frost and the wind was indescribable! It was a pity because the places we went through were so interesting, but our pleasure in seeing them was very much spoilt by the cold and the frightful wind. After we left Aix-en-Provence the weather got rapidly warmer. The road was a very pretty one all amongst the mountains – We stopped for lunch at a very nice little hotel and when we were settled at our table, I was amused to see that Dad was sitting right underneath a huge bunch of mistletoe I told him I thought it was rather a dangerous position – but though lots of people came in and out to lunch, no one took advantage of it.
We got quite excited as we neared Ste. Maxime, and crossed the railwayline on which we travelled from Marseilles last year, and began to recognise the shapes of the hills and presently reached the towns and villages to which different friends had driven us. It was great fun getting back to this hotel and finding many old friends here. After seeing so many places we are glad to be settled down again.
I was very pleased with your school report and congratulate you on doing so well. I expect you really like being in the Senior School now, don’t you?
Tell me, does the pullover I bought for you last holidays, do alright for you – and also the cardigan that Peg knitted? If you are not to wear your green and red South Hall cardigan at St Monica’s, you may just as well finish that out at home.
Quite suddenly I don’t know what else to write about. Perhaps its because it is nearly dinner time – I shall therefore stop – and just send my best love and a big hug to you my darling
from
Mummy