Gardiner MSS 47.08.01

                                                                         Gurneh.
                                                                    17 Feb. 23.

My darling Mummy

          All this afternoon I stood outside the tomb of Sety II, where
the precious objects from the great tomb are gathered, and copied the

inscriptions from a delightfully carved ebony chair, one of the most

charming (though unpretentious) objects from the find. The inscription

was easy, and as I wrote, there came over me the most terrible

Heimweh {homesickness}. How I wished I could have had my own dear girl

with me to enjoy the sensations and sights of these days! I

reproached myself with not letting you follow your fancy, though

again my reason tells me that you can still have the same sights,

and enjoy them in greater leisure and more comfort at a time

when I shall be able to attend more to you. On the

great opening day yesterday – i.e. the informal opening – for the

official opening is tomorrow – no ladies were present escept

Evelyn, and we were already far too numerous, seventeen x[?]/<or> more in

all. So you would have sat at the hotel, or at the American

house, and would have eatx[?]/<en> out your heart with vein loupin x[?]/<g>[?]

and (harmless) envy. That would surely have been no joy. Today

Mrs. Winlock, Mrs. Burton and Mrs. Lythgoe were allowed into the

new chambers, and they had a better view than ever I did

yesterday. That you might possibly have had too, and you would

surely have been invited for the official opening tomorrow, a

mainly social event as far as we Egyptologists are concerned. 

But look what you may still enjoy, if you are patient. It is