Autograph letter signed : Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, to William Wetmore Story, 1873 August 24.

Thanking Story for his "long, particularizing letter" about their mutual friend Ernest Benzon's sudden attack of illness; telling him that Pen was also keeping him informed about Benzon; writing that "[i]t struck me as exceedingly fortunate for our friend that you were at hand -- your services must have been valuable indeed. What an extinction of the light of that pleasant party, -- even if there be an escape from the worst we have to fear"; describing his activities in Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer: "I and my sister walk, bathe, breathe fresh air enough, have our friend Milsand's company, and thereupon send another day to its account -- I leave out a little reading between whiles"; discussing the weather; continuing "I write, as I cannot but feel, lumberingly -- and with a weight of foreboding and dispiritedness -- but my object may have been gained: for all I want is to thank you deeply, and associate myself, despite of the distance, with your anxieties and friendly feelings"; adding in the postscript: "This is pricked on a bare deal table with an iron pen."