FLORIAN - The Most Traveled Man on Earth

her herself. Also there is an English governess of very good breeding, who seems to be
quite pleasant.
I wrote to you on April 15 th in reply to your letters from Natchez and from 3 others which
arrived at the same time from New Orleans. <strong>The</strong> last letter was from the 13 th . All your
daughters wrote a few lines, and I received, when I was about to seal the package, a letter
from Eliza which told me how Lord and Lady Kensington 43 were very nice to her. She
described her trip to me, etc. I thought I could not do better than to send it to you. I
flatter myself that you have received it, and that you are pleased with the details she
gives. I have received no [other] news, since Lady Kensington is to return to London in
July. I shall be pleased to have her back [?].
We have received news from our dear Peter. 44 He had a happy trip. He saw your sisters,
my aunt, and my uncle B, and they all are well. All retain the greatest friendship for us,
especially my good aunts, and our dear Eugenia and her husband.
Peter received 1800 [pounds] for me, and I hope he will receive still more. I will not give
you the details contained in his letter, as I imagine he will advise you of them. Thus our
hopes of Peter being successful in business seem to be coming true; perhaps J. [Joseph,
her other brother?] is also not without hope. It is time that he received some
compensation for his losses. <strong>The</strong>y have played a lot of dirty tricks on him. If you could
see the attention he gives us, you would know he deserves all our gratitude. He certainly
deserves more, but I sorely fear that we will never be able to give it to him.
What you told me about our dear Emmanuel affected me keenly. I hope that the
reception he gave you will make me cherish him even more, if I could do so more than I
do, but I loved him formerly like my son, neither time nor absence has changed my
feelings. 45 Give him my best regards, I should tell that myself, but I do not have time.
No one here believes in the fortune that Miss P. is to have. She is incorrigibly lazy. I
finally got her guardian to get her a piano so she could do more practicing. She is
making no progress in music, which drives me wild. She is to start singing tomorrow,
but she has no voice. If she really has 20 thousand pounds she will get along quite well
without all that [music training], but for myself I want to be proud of my instruction. She
is like an old, hard-mouthed horse. Despite that, she is the best girl in the world when
she is not obliged to apply herself.
Madame Henry is a big hypocrite who did not want Miss O. to have anyone but women
as teachers, and who advised her to leave any room as soon as a man [“a hat”] entered it,
no matter who was under the hat, young or old. I am waiting impatiently for the
description of all that you must do, when you are near Miss O.
43 It seems likely that this refers to William Edwardes, 2 nd Baron Kensington, 1777-1852, Member of
Parliament for Haverfordwest from 1802 to 1818 in the House of Commons. Since his baronetcy was an
Irish peerage, he like his father could not serve in the House of Lords. See their entries in Wikipedia.
44 Brother of Marguerite.
45 Emmanuel is the brother of Marguerite, living in New Orleans. At this point he is 28 and she is about 39.
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