MS West Devon Area Record Office Acc No 308
My dear Mary
St Paul has brought us nice brisk weather, I hope it is not too cold for you, but it is pleasant to have it clean. We have had the excitement of hearing that Capt Cromie has been transferred to Algeciras in Spain, close to Gibraltar, so Frances comes home with the whole family in March and will not miss the wedding –1 I do not know much more for the letters were to Helen, and so I had to direct them on, and she poor thing has a lame finger, she had the sash window shut down on her middle finger She was alone in the room and could not reach the bell, so there she had to wait till the newspaper boy came by and she could call to him to send a maid from the kitchen. It is still painful, though it happened nearly a week ago, so she writes as little as she can. Maude is going on very well, and the fear of Maurice having carried the infection is over, I am thankful to say.
There was a burglary the other day, at that house on the Winchester road, looking towards the Hursley road, £250 worth of plate was carried off in the night, by the connivance it is supposed by the butler’s connivance but after two days, the most of it was found in the old Hollow, just above! The thieves must have found it too heavy to carry far!
We have our Diocesan examination on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. We like Mr Silver, the examiner very much.
I have some snowdrops and there are hazel catkins, but I suppose everything will be wholesomely retarded.
If Charlotte gets new books, she should see G Leslie’s letters to Marco- ie Mr Marks They are all about observations on birds and flowers
your most affectionate
C M Yonge