Badsey
Evesham
Feb 5th/12
My dear Kathleen,
Many thanks for your letter & the book catalogues.
Mother is going on pretty satisfactory, her cough is less, & though she varies as to how she feels, on the whole she improves as to strength & appetite. The analyst’s report was quite satisfactory, no tubercle bacilli were found, Dr Leslie was very much pleased at that.
Arthur came over yesterday arriving about 11.15. He was able to stay the night & returned this morning by the 9 train from Badsey. Dr Leslie came over to tea yesterday afternoon to meet him & they had a long confab, about Mother. They examined her yet once more and Arthur appears to agree with all Dr Leslie had said, there is definite disease of the lung which must be arrested & not allowed to proceed further, but they say there is no reason why, when this attack has quite passed off she should not be as well as she was before, though of course it cannot be quite cured. They both say that she ought to go away to a warm place when she is well enough, & suggested Torquay or Bournemouth. That would not be though for a few weeks as she is not out of bed yet, the doctor will not let her get up in this weather even in her room until her cough has almost disappeared I expect. She is getting rather tired of bed & begins to long for some fresh air, poor little Ma, it will be rather a long imprisonment I am afraid. We have not discussed the going away question since Arthur first plainly stated it to Father, I think it is best to let him think it over for a few days & then I will try & find out what he thinks it will be possible to do. I think he really expected that she would have to go away to a warmer place, Arthur says six weeks or more is what she really ought to have, so as to avoid the trying spring weather here. Don’t say much about this when you write, I will let you know when plans begin to shape. Of course the obvious thing is for Ethel to go with her to begin with at any rate, & I hope it will be managed.
I am so glad you saw the little Judy, Mother had a very bright & long letter from her today which cheered her, it was good of her to write so cheerily, though she is not quite herself again even yet. I hope you will be able to see her again before long.
Tuesday morning. Mother is pretty well this morning – Father says, had a good night except for a bother with the stove which smoked horribly in the middle of the night & covered the room with blacks, poor Dot will have a business cleaning up this morning.
Much love from May
I’m sorry I forgot to send your cards before.
