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.’ 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. 
Garris 
7That is, at Couéron, 
