| Description | Letter from Amelia Nyasa Laws, 7 Via Venti Settembre, Rome, to her relatives, regarding a robbery and Ernesta's account of it; some of their laundry has been stolen off the balcony by a man pretending to be an electrician; worse still, he has taken three lead pipes, depriving them of drinking water; Amelia blocked the pipes with corks while Uncle advised from the safety of the doorway; he decided he would only tell the police when the man returned, perhaps next day, procrastinating as usual; when he was begged to report it, he did so to Maria's brother, a carabineer, who recommended that Uncle forget about it; the law of libel is the only one which seems to be enforced in Italy; Ernesta has been pardoned and security has been tightened; the thief returned the next day and took one of Mr. Lorimer's boxes, left with Uncle for safety; all the luggage has now been brought into the upstairs kitchen; Uncle is most concerned over the church books, which he has made Fulvio and Ernesta unpack and store under the sink where the flannels are washed, which annoyed Amelia so much she left the house and went to practise on the church organ so as not to see Uncle for the rest of the afternoon; Uncle has copies of all these books in his study anyway; she wins her point by saying that the books will be dripped on, and Uncle is now thinking of moving them again; they should be with the Presbytery clerk anyway, and not with them; she is finding hospital life increasingly attractive; Miss Vernaz said that 'only in one's own home is the will of others imposed on one', and Amelia thinks it wrong that men should dictate so much in the household; 'men become more autocratic as they advance in years'; the whole robbery incident has instigated many repairs which might not have been done for a long time; Mrs. Fleming's trunks are at last finished; Marchesa Centurione has refused to allow Amelia to take the model splints away again, even temporarily, even though she ordered and paid for them; Miss Kent wanted to see them and to show them to the sculptor who is to teach Amelia how to make plaster casts; the women in the laboratorio where the splints are being made were criticising the Americans this week for doing nothing, even though they had just received a grant of 1.5 million francs from them; they think it was disgraceful that the Americans allowed Padova to be bombed and that they ought to have been bombing all the Austrian towns; the sculptor thinks that the women at the laboratorio do not work intelligently; the work is too mechanical and they cannot solve minor problems; Leghorn is still a problem, with regard to investing in the War Loans; Uncle was supposed to have backed out of all Leghorn concerns and has now interfered again, to Henderson's reasonable irritation; Leghorn considers the investment a local affair, but it has wider implications; Uncle has not helped matters by changing his mind about the investment; Aunt has tried to calm Uncle by telling him that he must be careful not to rouse Blake's ambitious spirit again; there is a fear that governments will not be able to sustain the payments on the war loans; Blake still has influence in Leghorn, and that makes Uncle reluctant to resign fully, though he should simply back off as he will be thwarted by the Blake supporters anyway; visits of Mrs. Brock who is seeking Uncle's support in a quarrel with Miss Jazdowska over soldiers failing to rise for the National Anthem [There were Jazdowskis associated with teaching and art in Aberdeen: James Bronislas Jazdowski, son of John, teacher in Aberdeen, graduated from Marischal College in 1856 and according to an annotation of the Search Room student list died in Rome in 1902]; Aunt has begged Uncle not to get involved as Mrs. Brock has caused great trouble for him before; the whole thing is threatening to blow up into another division of the community in Rome; if it turns into a general desire to oust Miss Jazdowska the ladies should unite and do it, not involve Uncle. |