Letter from Lady Catherine Ashburnham to Rupert Gunnis

Values Gunnis's kind thoughts and gifts more than she can express, all the more because she has never had such an experience before. Speaks of her own apathy, and states that she has never found a worth-while job to do in connection with the war. Has finished the life of Charlotte [de la Trémouille, wife of James Stanley, the 7th Earl of Derby, who defended Lathom House, Lancashire, during the Civil War]; is disappointed to find that none of the old house is left, and forgives her forbears for selling it. She can hear the the noise of robots and planes in the distance as she writes; she could feel the shock last night; Dick [John Richard Bickersteth, land agent] has told her that Battle Rural District has had more [doodlebugs] over it and down than any other part of England: over 70. Has heard that Gunnis saw one brought down near Brightling. Regrets the damage to Tunbridge Wells. Would like to go to Devon, but dreads the journey through London and the way up. She had heard three [doodlebugs] while writing the letter alone.