Edith Simcox, Autobiography, 11-12 July 1880
Title
Edith Simcox, Autobiography, 11-12 July 1880
Title
Edith Simcox, Autobiography, 11-12 July 1880
Sender
Edith Simcox
Recipient
U
Date(s)
- 1880-07-11–<br /> 1880-07-12
Place
London
Letter Content
Edith Simcox, Autobiography, 11-12 July 1880
MS: Bodleian.
Sunday 11 July 1880
Yesterday I was startled by the question "Is Mr. Cross any better?" and then a rumour that he was ill -- or like to die -- of typhoid fever at Venice. 557 It seemed too horrible to be true and yet I hardly dared to doubt it. It was bad enough at best to think of her alarm if he was ill at all. I tried to harden myself shiveringly, as I went up to Hampstead to seek news from Charley. He had gone to join his wife and children at Witley -- I asked the servant if she knew how Mr. Cross was and she said getting better, when she heard them speak of it last -- they were talking of coming back to England. This did not tell me what the worst had been and I tried again at the Priory where the woman in charge had heard nothing. It seemed the first report was exaggerated but I could not help feeling besides the anxiety for her a dull pain at the thought that her anxiety might have come and gone without my knowing. Shall I run down to Weybridge this afternoon and see if it was true his sisters had been telegraphed for -- the servants there at least will know all about it.
Monday 12 July 1880
On the whole, after some hesitation I went. I took a 3rd class return from Clapham Junction and arrived just before 6. Eleanor and Florence were alone at home. Three weeks or more he had been taken ill, she telegraphed at once and Willy Cross went out; for a week he was ill -- if not in danger, and then, very weak, they carried him by slow stages out of Venice. Munich did not suit him, but he was out of danger now, had written one letter himself, they were going to Wildbad and likely to be back as proposed the end of this month. I was very glad I went. Eleanor spoke a little about the marriage, hoped I was glad for her as well as him and said, as Charles Lewes had, that they had been very anxious before the marriage, he was so worn and ill. He had to continue all his business to the last because she would not let anyone be told and he shrank from the responsibility, if her friends were likely to take it as she thought they would, of coming between her and them. She had said to them -- "Edith would disapprove." I was glad I went.
MS: Bodleian.
Sunday 11 July 1880
Yesterday I was startled by the question "Is Mr. Cross any better?" and then a rumour that he was ill -- or like to die -- of typhoid fever at Venice. 557 It seemed too horrible to be true and yet I hardly dared to doubt it. It was bad enough at best to think of her alarm if he was ill at all. I tried to harden myself shiveringly, as I went up to Hampstead to seek news from Charley. He had gone to join his wife and children at Witley -- I asked the servant if she knew how Mr. Cross was and she said getting better, when she heard them speak of it last -- they were talking of coming back to England. This did not tell me what the worst had been and I tried again at the Priory where the woman in charge had heard nothing. It seemed the first report was exaggerated but I could not help feeling besides the anxiety for her a dull pain at the thought that her anxiety might have come and gone without my knowing. Shall I run down to Weybridge this afternoon and see if it was true his sisters had been telegraphed for -- the servants there at least will know all about it.
Monday 12 July 1880
On the whole, after some hesitation I went. I took a 3rd class return from Clapham Junction and arrived just before 6. Eleanor and Florence were alone at home. Three weeks or more he had been taken ill, she telegraphed at once and Willy Cross went out; for a week he was ill -- if not in danger, and then, very weak, they carried him by slow stages out of Venice. Munich did not suit him, but he was out of danger now, had written one letter himself, they were going to Wildbad and likely to be back as proposed the end of this month. I was very glad I went. Eleanor spoke a little about the marriage, hoped I was glad for her as well as him and said, as Charles Lewes had, that they had been very anxious before the marriage, he was so worn and ill. He had to continue all his business to the last because she would not let anyone be told and he shrank from the responsibility, if her friends were likely to take it as she thought they would, of coming between her and them. She had said to them -- "Edith would disapprove." I was glad I went.
Citation
Edith Simcox, Edith Simcox, Autobiography, 11-12 July 1880, Complete George Eliot Letters(2026), George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/91771