| Description | Mary asks if John really wishes to know her daily life details. She relates what she did yesterday, from her 'early morning cough'. Disappointed at only one letter on the breakfast table, she read and produced fern-spatter work of 'nicety'. She wrote to Mrs Shute, but was coughing sufficiently by three o' clock to need 'the stick' [morphine injection], making a fresh solution. She visited the Library to skim the papers, and was joined by Esther at four-thirty for a carriage ride, taking sketchbooks and discovering a group of silver ferns. On arriving home they arranged ferns, made doylys, and Mary was ready for bed at ten-thirty. She believes that she is gaining health and strength. The morphia keeps her coughing fits in check. She discusses her carriage refurbishment and its costs, and hopes that John's money problems are resolved. She has been writing to Collingwood, and to her own father. |