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Vallombrosa - Aug. 29th

Dear Papa

I have sad news from Connie- Her baby was born dead - was too large, weighed 5 kilo & I fear from what Alice says that instruments were not used soon enough, & the child was strangled - A splendid boy, looking like a child a month old. [[Chiasa?]] was not at hand. There is a report that he has gone off with one of the nurses of the hospital. His aid Fasola was the doctor. [[?]] there is no help for it, & we


walk yesterday - two hours through the woods to the top of one of the high mountains behind the convent. We took our lunch, & spent two or three hours on the top, eating, sleeping enjoying the magnificent view & reading Ruskin's "Praeterita" his autobiography. It is very entertaining - Read it, & also get for the sea "Le Pecheur d'Islands" by Loti. It is a most charming novel. The author is an officer in the French navy, & writes as if he knew & loved the sea.- On our return from the mountain yesterday we came through