166 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



appears to be satisfied ; he is about to send some teas that you 

 have ordered from him. It has grieved me much to see him 

 send a boat to Nantes, and not consigned to you, but his rea- 

 sons were, I believe, so sound that I did not dare remonstrate. 

 The agents of the house of Rossel and Boudet paid him the 

 2/3 of the invoice, or a draft upon London for an equivalent 

 sum, that neither Ferdinand nor I were authorized to do ; the 

 latter is at Philadelphia. In a short time we are leaving for 

 a voyage upon the Ohio, the details of which you will learn 

 [from him], or from my father, and which I believe will be 

 very advantageous to us. We hope to sell Mill Grove this 

 autumn, which we shall do, however, only at a profit. We 

 received this morning a letter from Mr. Fleury Emery, who 

 urges Mr. B. B. to give him some shipments, but regarding 

 this I do not know his intentions. I have also received a letter 

 to-day from our friend, Fd, who is quite well, and longs to be 

 doing something. 



Mr. Emery advises me of the receipt of a little box of seeds 

 for my father and you. I think that your gardens are now 

 embellished with foreign trees. 



Mr. B. B. is loading tea for you, a thing that gives me 

 much pleasure. I am sending you a letter from Ferdinand that 

 I received yesterday. Presenting you as well as your whole 

 amiable family with humble respects, 



I continue to be 



your faithful servant, 



AUDUBON. 



My regards, I pray to you, to my cousin, the younger. 



Audubon's loyalty to his kind-hearted employer is 

 evident in every one of these amiable letters, yet it is 

 plain that they were written upon his own initiative, and 

 a merchant of today might seriously object to such a 

 candid exposition of his dealings as young Audubon's 

 friendly epistles occasionally revealed. 



