Eden himself paid tribute to his wife's adaptation of their domestic arrangements to meet the "unsteady requirements" of this period, noting that his digestion took less kindly to them. There is some evidence also that, when he was Foreign Secretary, Lady Avon had influenced (or, at any rate endorsed) his patterns of work. A later Foreign Secretary, Douglas Hurd, has observed that, though he worked hard, Eden did not keep office hours and often spent mornings working in bed. For example, on 29 December 1952, Eden wrote: "Raining and cold. Clarissa says that this is the right way to run the F.O. Lie in bed, direct office by telephone and read Delacroix".