Seward House
Badsey
6th September 1906
My dearest May,
We have all thought so much about you & Auntie since we had the telegram on Monday morning telling us of your dear Uncle Dilnot’s terribly sudden death; it is such a sad ending to your trip & will of course quite prevent your enjoying the return journey, you will now only be longing to be home again & we shall be so glad to get you back.
It seems such a long time before we can get any details of the sad event & we can only imagine what you may be doing & hope that you may have found friends to help you in your difficulties; we can do nothing to help you both & you cannot even receive our letters for such a long time. Poor Aunt Bessie & all your cousins, how sad they will be! We little knew what was going to happen when we were so pleased to hear that Uncle was going with you to Sydney. Father is very much upset, he was very fond of your Uncle Dilnot & though it seemed unlikely that they would ever meet again in this world, he liked having his letters & hearing about him. Uncle Frank & Aunt Edith were staying with us when the news came, they hurried home the next day & Auntie writes today that when Aunt Susan was told she said “So many are dying & I can’t die”! Poor old soul, she is only longing for her call to come.
Give my best love to Auntie & tell her how much I sympathise with her in her great grief & trouble, Father is writing to her, so I will wait till another mail. We both wrote to Aunt Bessie yesterday.
George came home on Tuesday for his holiday, he is looking well but has rather a heavy cold which has been hanging about him the last week or two, I hope the change will drive it away. Arthur came back from South Wales on Saturday, looking very brown, he & Cyril have been busy picking fruit this week. And now my dear child, goodbye. God bless you both & give you a safe journey home again.
Much love from
Your loving mother
Eugénie N Sladden
