This journey to Switzerland was one of the few undertaken by Rachel simply for amusement and repose. Already we see the cloud of ill-health on the horizon, that was destined to overshadow her life. She wrote to her father from Lyons on the 10th July:—
My dear Father,
I arrived here on the 5th. I was so fatigued with rehearsals and representations at Marseilles that I have only been able to act once in Lyons. To-day I give Andromaque for my second representation. I have had an acute pain in my back for the last ten days. Thinking it would pass away, I said nothing; but now I am painfully aware that it is becoming chronic. I felt it first of all after writing for some time; now I feel it continually, unless when lying down. The pain is on the left side, between the shoulders. I can carry nothing with the left arm without feeling the ache. Damp, I am sure, aggravates it. It has been continuously wet and cold since my arrival. My spirits are depressed, and, as you know, the view from the Hôtel du Nord is not calculated to make one cheerful. It is only when I find myself face to face with an approving public, like the one I meet here for the second time in this town of Lyons, which recalls all my childhood, that I forget my pain and suffering. When I think that I have still eleven representations to give I am frightened at the fatigue. I can only try to find at home the calm and repose each representation robs me of. I make a great effort to write to you, for, as I told you, I suffer a great deal more when I write. Therefore, dear father, as what I have to do to-night is anything but repose, I leave you. hoping that you, mamma, and the children are well. A thousand kisses.
