DACOSTA AND THE MINE 119 



rights as I have, and that you are doing nothing but for our 

 mutual advantage. I am writing to him on this subject, for 

 he does not speak of it to me, and I am giving him the rebuke 

 that his indiscretion deserves. Read this letter, and have the 

 kindness to seal it before delivering it to him. You tell me 

 that I can refer, in regard to his conduct, to the report that 

 Mr. Miers Fisher has given of it in his long letter of the month 

 of September; that, unhappily, I have not received, for Mr. 

 Fisher tells me nothing about him, neither what is good nor 

 bad. As to going to that country, this seems well nigh im- 

 possible ; to recall my son is not easier ; the reasons which made 

 me send him out [there] still remain. Only an instant is needed 

 to make him change from bad to good ; his extreme youth and 

 his petulance are his only faults, and if you have the goodness 

 to give him the indispensable, he will soon feel the necessity of 

 making friends with you, and he can be of great service if you 

 use him for your own benefit. 



It is necessary then, my dear Sir, that we endeavor, by 

 gentleness, to reclaim him to his duty. If you are indulgent 

 with him, it will be I who should be under every obligation to 

 you. I hope that the enclosed letter will work a change with 

 him. This is my only son, my heir, and I am old. When Mr. 

 Miers Fisher shall have shown my letter to the would-be father- 

 in-law, he will see that he is mistaken in his calculation upon 

 the assumed marriage of his daughter, for if it should take 

 place without my consent, all help on my part would cease 

 from that instant ; this, if you will have the kindness, is what 

 you may say to the would-be father-in-law, that I do not wish 

 my son to marry so young. 



Your letters of the 28th of October and the 12th of No- 

 vember are in the country. 7 I cannot reply categorically upon 

 their contents ; I will examine them, and will tell you in my 

 next what I think about them. Your family, which I have 

 seen, is well. Our ladies thank you for your kind remembrance. 

 I am. . . . 



7 That is, at Coueron. 



