Letter from the SS Great Britain 7 October

“I play whist but nothing else and then not high although a gentleman betting on myself and Mr. Hadgets lost four or five pounds in less than half an hour. He (Hadgets) is a very pleasant fellow (but if you have ever heard Russells song of the Gamblers life it is illustrated here) with a young good looking woman for a wife and I have watched her sitting watching him while he has played from meal time to meal time, she is I am told worth plenty of money, sleeps in the next state room to me.”

[Maria had no money, but the rumour mill was evidently busy.]