I
hear that he was able to drive out yesterday for a little while.
But great quiet will be necessary for a long while to come. You are
very kind in your accounts of Helena, who no doubt must have
suffered much from being so far off.... I hear that she is really
better and stronger. She speaks often of the pleasure it is to her
to see you and Lord Russell, of whom I am delighted to hear so good
an account. Though not very strong and not free from rheumatic
pains at times, I am much better and able to walk again out of
doors, much as usual.

With kind remembrances to Lord Russell and Agatha,

Ever yours affectionately, V.R.

In the spring they all came back to England. Lord John had benefited in
health by wintering abroad; he was still vigorous enough to resist in the
House of Lords the claim of the United States for the _Alabama_
indemnity, and to give a presidential address to the Historical Society;
but the years were beginning to tell on him.

PEMBROKE LODGE, _April_ 18, 1872

John did not venture out--still looks tired and not as he did when
we arrived, but no cold. Sad, most sad to me, that when I take a
brisk turn in the garden, it is no longer with him--that his
enjoyments, his active powers, yearly dwindle away--that it is
scarcely possible he should not at times feel the hours too long
from the difficulty of finding variety of occupation. Writing,
walking, even reading very long or talking much with friends and
visitors all tire him. He never complains, and I thank God for his
patience, and oh! so heartily that he has no pain, no chronic
ailment. But alas for the days of his vigour when he was out and in
twenty times a day, when life had a zest which nothing can restore!

_Lady Russell to Lady Dunfermline_

PEMBROKE LODGE, _August_ 8, 1872

Filled with wonder, shame, remorse, I begin on a Thursday to write
to you. What possessed me to let Wednesday pass without doing so I
can't tell, but I think it happens about once a year, and I dare
say it's a statistical mystery--the averages must be kept right,
and my mind is not to blame--no free will in the matter. This
brings me to an essay in one of the magazines for August--I forget
which--on the statistics of prayer. Not a nice name (perhaps it's
not correct, but nearly so), and not a nice article, it seemed to
me--but I