Nov. 12. '99 Darling, how dear was your / handwriting to see last evening - / I was so glad to hear where / you were and what doing. / The news of dear Madeline / had not reached me, & / I sympathise tenderly with / her - who could have cal- / culated on such disappoint- / ment? It is touching of her / and her husband to realise the / little creature & love it so / well as to prefer their / own loss to its possible / suffering if it had lived! / The thing that has / reached me, as well as everyone / else, is the war news, and / they have made me very un- / happy. I am "all against" / it to begin with and that / is sad enough to feel on public / grounds - bur the private / tragedies on both sides are / a day - as well as night- / mare. Heaven help us all / through it, and bring some / light out of our darkness. / - You are so right, dear, / I am sure, in not sending / your children away - for / many reasons as I think, & certainly for this one, that / you know the thing to guard / against where they are, but / elsewhere they might be / exposed to other unknown / & perhaps worse ones. / And I feel it must give / courage to your poor neigh- / bours to see that you stay / with them and take wise / precautions - which they might / imitate but probably won't! / - So warm it is here, / we cannot do with a fire / till the evening, and then / more for the look of it than / the need - and constant days / of sunlight. / It will soon be / eleven moths since I came / to live here, & it seems both / and age and the twinkling / of an eye. Thankyou so / much for your promise of the / precious letters. I will return / them as soon as ever I can. / I am busy now on the child- / hood & boyhood - and a heart - / searching work it is. / Yes, please register the letters / darling. / Bless you all - I love each / one separately & all together. / Ever your / Georgie