THE CAMP, Sunningdale. July 18 1889.
My dear Little Lion Thank you for your letter. I am glad that you are enjoying yourself. Mamma and Dick came home all safe yesterday. Hugh and Archie miss you very much and Beau goes about looking the "ghost of misery". I too miss you greatly. But as I get old I must accustom myself to missing people; and worse, for most of those I miss I shall never see again ! You must lay this to heart and make the best of your friends whilst you have them, so that when they go you have no source of regret from having neglected them when alive. Sir Henry Yule comes here today, with one of his maid servants, who will help to take care of him. We have had the last of the strawberries gathered yesterday. There are loads of raspberries and gooseberries, also several wasps' nests in the garden. When picking the capsules off the Rhodods. I was amongst a swarm of wasps, but they did not sting me though they followed me for some way. Hugh and Archie have been pulling up Ferns on the heather borders, and collecting the Pine cones. Your beautiful rose has 8 flowers on it. We have had very little rain, but the sky has been clouded, and sun is wanted to to ripen the gooseberries and rain to swell them. The addition to the stables is getting on fast.

I am reading two books about Monmouth, one is called "Old Mortality" by Sir Walter Scott, which we began in bed! and which describes the battles between the Scotch Covenanters and Claverhouse, and which was settled by Monmouth's being sent to Scotland by his brother. The other book, called Micah Clarke, is an account of the rising in the West under Monmouth and the battle of Sedgemoor; it is very interesting, but long. Hugh and Archie send their loves to you and Grandmamma and all the rest join in love to you both. Your ever affectionate OLD LION.