June 5. 1870. My dear Challey,

I am very glad to hear that you are going to make a little excursion. I only wish you were going to the sea-side instead of the country, as I am sure the sea-breezes would do you a world of good in this warm weather.

I was so much hurried the last time I wrote you that I forgot to tell you that mama was prevented from going to hear Blind lecture & that Helen went instead. On her arrival Helen saw the Blinds at one of the doors of St. George’s Hall, much before time & unable to obtain admission, until Stepney came to the rescue, and with his usual officiousness, (he ran right and left in search of a private door), eventually managed to wedge himself in. The door opened, Blind bowed to Stepney & shook hands with him, but Mrs Blind & daughter passed him without condescending to look up. Stepney was shabbily dressed, & hence Mrs Blind no doubt rashly concluded that the owner of such shabby clothes could’nt possibly have a balance at his bankers. Anyhow Stepney seemed much nettled at having been snubbed by the ladies, left the B. family to their own devices & betook himself to a quiet corner of the hall where he soon forgot his grievances in a snooze, from which he was once or twice aroused by the faint attempt at applause that greeted the lecturer. The hall was not well attended. Helen thought Blind’s English pretty good, that is to say he read glibly enough, but whenever he happened by mistake to turn over a wrong page, he lost with his place his head & tongue. He looked particularly well—came out in blackish hair & beard et il y a de mauvaises langues qui prétendent même that the colour of his cheeks was heightened by artificial contrivances—A patriot of the period—got up à la Rachel!

Yesterday poor Mrs Dupont’s funeral took place. How glad I was you were away & thus escaped the dreary ceremony. Several members of the Council followed the coffin. Eccarius was among them. It was very kind of the poor old fellow to come all the way from Westminster, and he had got himself up most decently for the occasion, having even invested money in crape. In the evening Eccarius & Morris called upon us after having succeeded with great difficulty in giving the slip to their companions Lullier & Harris who were busily engaged in exchanging ideas on “permanent revolutions” & the currency.

Eccarius wants to know whether you can do him the following service (Die Welt ist ja voll großer täglicher, trefflicher Dienst!) Out of 100 copies of the Congress Reports sent to Manchester 84 have remained unsold. Now Stepney having promised to buy those remaining numbers, Eccarius would like you to bring them back with you to London, as he would thereby gain the 6 shillings which the sending of the parcel would cost him. I am very sorry to give you the trouble—but we did not see how to get out of it. Tussy can perhaps take care of the parcel & get one of her Manchester Irishmen to go for it to Mr Shorrock.

We have not heard from Paul & Laura since you left us—nor have we had any French papers, so that we don’t know how the manufacturing of complots is progressing. As for the English papers, unless one has a taste for descriptions of the last fine murder—it’s no use looking at them. Have you seen yesterday’s Irishman? You see the Enquiry will turn out as we expected, a regular sham.

Tell Tussy that Flourens has not been heard of, no doubt he has settled down somewhere in the neighbourhood of Camille … Give my love to the folks at Manchester & with ever so many kisses

I remain your affectionateW.