| Description | Letter from Amelia Nyasa Laws, 7 Via Venti Settembre, Rome, to her relatives, regarding her reading of a book by Mr. Burns' mother[-in-law], lent her by the Chiellinis; visit of Mr. and Mrs. Burns; Mr. Burns looks miserable; his mother-in-law's relationship with Carducci, the corrupt hero of Italian poetry, is a well-known fact; his wife's father is not in fact the London barrister Mr. Chartres as thought; Mrs. Burns has inherited a bad character and is now beginning to show it; they have left their baby with the British consul in Milan to whom they have also let their house; they are living in hotels; Uncle is very distressed by the situation; disputing with Uncle over his sermon on the will of God; Rosa, the porteress at the Via Ballo, has been unjustly accused of stealing at the Y.W.C. A. but was cleared by Muston from Leghorn - two boarders and two servants have now been found to be to blame; the source of the trouble was Miss Morgan who does not like Rosa and wanted to replace her with Mrs. Bonar's old servant, Pia; Rosa has been upset, and has young children and a husband at the front; rumour that 11 men of position in Messina have been imprisoned for withholding provision stores from the people; Mr. Green is on the whole milder than before. |