The visit once made and so much relished,
became habitual; and Miss Isola's holidays were afterwards regularly spent
at the Lambs' house. She used to take long walks with Charles, when his
sister was too old and infirm to accompany him. Ultimately she was looked
upon in the light of a child; and Charles Lamb, when speaking of her (and
he did this always tenderly), used invariably to call her "Our Emma." To
show how deep his regard was, he at one time was invited to engage in some
profitable engagement (1830) whilst Miss Isola was in bad health; but he
at once replied, "Whilst she is in danger, and till she is out of it, I
feel that I have no spirits for an engagement of any kind." Some years
afterwards, when she became well, and was about to be married, Lamb
writes, "I am about to lose my only walk companion," whose mirthful
spirits (as he prettily terms it) were "the youth of our house." "With my
perfect approval, and more than concurrence," as he states, she was to be
married to Mr. Moxon. Miss Emma Isola, who was, in Charles Lamb's phrase,
"a very dear friend of ours," remained his friend till death, and became
eventually his principal legatee. After her marriage, Charles, writing to
her husband (November, 1833), says, "Tell Emma I every day love her more,
and miss her less.
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