Part 6 (1/2)
”He lit so many fires in cold rooms”
After Alfred's death, my husband said this of him in the House of Co justice to the feelings which are uppermost in many of our hearts, if we passed to the business of the day without taking notice of the fresh gap which has been made in our ranks by the untimely death of Mr Alfred Lyttelton It is a loss of which I hardly trust myself to speak; for, apart from ties of relationshi+p, there had subsisted between us for thirty- three years, a close friendshi+p and affection which no political differences were ever allowed to loosen, or even to affect Nor could I better describe it than by saying that he, perhaps, of all eneration, calish father would like to see his son aspire to, and, if possible, to attain The bounty of nature, enriched and developed not only by early training, but by constant self-discipline through life, blended in hiraces which, taken alone, are rare, and in such attractive union are rarer still Body, mind and character, the schoolroom, the cricket field, the Bar, the House of Commons--each made its separate contribution to the faculty and the experience of a ave with such ease and exuberance that I think it eration that wherever he moved he seemed to radiate vitality and charhter He has left behind hiraciouspersonality, the memory of one who served with an unstinted eneration and country He has been snatched away in e thought was the full tide of buoyant life, still full of promise and of hope What ain before the decrees of the Supreme Wisdom Those who loved him--and they are many, in all schools of opinion, in all ranks and walks of life--when they think of him, will say to themselves:
This is the happy warrior, this is he Who every man in arms should wish to be
On the occasion of Alfred Lyttelton's second visit to Glen, I will quote my diary:
”Laura canoir and asked me what she should wear for dinner I said:
”'Your whitein the Doo'cot and you had better go and entertain hiht'
”She tied a blue ribbon in her hair, hastily thrust her dia and her hair low and straight upon her forehead, she went into our sitting-room (we called it the Doo'cot, because we all quarrelled there) Feeling rather s against it, watched Alfred struure so near him, so delicate in her white dress
”The silence was broken by Alfred asking her if anyher that he loved her; but suddenly all talk stopped and she was in his arainst his hard coat There was no one to record what followed; only the night rising with passionate eyes:
'The hiding, receiving night that talks not'
”They were married on the 10th of May, 1885 ”In April of 1886, Laura's baby was expected any day; and my mother was anxious that I should not be near her when the event took place The Lytteltons lived in Upper Brook Street; and, Grosvenor Square being near, it was thought that any suffering on her partand painful impression on me, so I was sent down to Easton Grey to stay with Lucy and hunt in the Badood-bye to Laura and found her in a strange humour
”LAURA: 'I am sure I shall die with my baby'
”MARGOT: 'How can you talk such nonsense? Every one thinks that
Look at !'
”LAURA: 'I know she did; but I am sure I shall die'
”MARGOT: 'I a as you are to die, darling! It makes me miserable to hear you talk like this'
”LAURA: 'If I die, Margot, I want you to read my will to the relations and people that will be in et'
”MARGOT: 'All right, darling, I will; but let us kneel down and pray that, whether it is me or you who die first, if it is God's will, one of us may come to the other down here and tell us the truth about the next world and console us as much as possible in this!'”
We knelt and prayed and, though I was more removed from the world and in the hurief over Laura's death, which took place ten days later, I have never heard from her or of her from that day to this
Mrs Lyttelton has told the story of her husband's first o over the saain, but, as my sister Laura's death had more effect on e and the birth of my children, I must copy a short account of it written at that ti down a green slope in Gloucestershi+re while the Beaufort hounds were scattered below vainly trying to pick up the scent; they were on a stale line and the result had been general confusion It was a hot day and the woods were full of children and pri with birds and insects, nature wore an expectant look and all the hedge-rows sparkled with the spangles of the spring There was a prickly gap under a tree which divided me from my co, laziness or temper, my horse turned round and refused to ht kick I ree with a tremendous headache They said that the branch was too low, or the horse juht me in the face In consequence I had concussion of the brain; and my nose and upper lip were badly torn I was picked up byon my chin-- and took me home in a cart The doctor was sent for, but there was no tiive me chloroform I sat very still froh the most sensitive part of my nose When it was all over, I looked at lass and burst into tears I had never been very pretty (”worse than that,” as the Marquis of Soveral [Footnote: The Late Portuguese Minister] said) but I had a straight nose and a look of intelligence; and now my face would be marked for life like a Ger: ”'Laura confined--a boy-- both doing well'
”We sent back a !'
On Sunday we received a letter fro Laura was very ill and another on Monday telling us to go to London I was in a state of acute anxiety and said to the doctor I o and see Laura immediately, but he would not hear of it:
”'Ierous to move with a face like that,' he said