From Madame Guérin to Madame Martin. January 9, 1869.
Source: autograph fd 21 x 13,3 cm.
My dear sister,
Pardon me for not having replied sooner to your good letter and that of your charming little girls. You told us in what sad state our good sister of Le Mans was. We knew nothing about it, although she had written to us the day before. We are very worried about her, because every winter she is very ill. Today we received a letter in which she tells us that she is much better and that her condition is no longer worrying. But she listens to herself so little, and she is so little alarmed at seeing herself ill that we dare not believe it too much. I hope however that now she will recover [lv°] little by little. We received the pretty little letters from Marie and Pauline. We had already received two from their aunt. We found them charming. Marie writes quite like a big girl and it would be difficult to find a spelling mistake in her letters. As for Pauline, her little letters are very nice. They are full of naivety. We see that she writes what she thinks and that she has a good little heart. They are very nice children and we were very happy when we received their compliments. I wrote them my little letter yesterday at Le Mans, because I know that they have returned now. You were very happy to see them again and to find them so friendly. These poor little girls I imagine their joy in seeing you again and in finding themselves at home. Now they are back probably until Easter. I do not urge you to bring them to us at this time [2 r°] because I know that this is not possible because of the event that you are expecting around this time. But during the summer holidays they will have to come and see where their uncle and aunt from Lisieux live. And you? How are you. Is your health quite good? You didn't tell us about Hélène. It seems that she was ill. It was our sister in Le Mans who taught us that. She told us that she had had measles and that she had been in great pain.
We are all well. Our little Jeanne has just had a bad cold but she is doing very well now. Every day she makes new faces, she has a liveliness that really worries me, because at times she would escape you if you didn't hold her accordingly. It's becoming tiring to carry because it always wants to be on the ground and of course it can't stand on its own (the baby is eleven months old) I assure you that I long to [2v°] see it walk on its own. Everyone tells me it will give me so much trouble, but it doesn't matter. She is always very nice. You just have to show her something so that she immediately tries to do it. So for some time now she has been practicing snapping her fingers. She does this so nicely, I would even say so graciously that everyone is surprised. She understands almost everything. You see that we are still crazy about our Jeanne. My husband goes to great lengths for his pharmacy. This gives him a lot of hassle. However, the worst is not over. When the workers are in the house it will be a great embarrassment for us, I would really like everything to be finished so that I can be at peace afterwards. I assure you that I am worried how we will do for two months. Finally it is only a time to pass.
Farewell, my dear sister, I embrace you with all my heart as well as your little girls. Please be my interpreter for Mr. Martin.
Your devoted sister.
C. Guerin.
[2v°tv] thank you for the pains you have already taken to find us a maid. Right away it goes quite well, however there is much to say, but I am patient. I had several difficulties with Irma, immediately I'm happier. If it had continued I would certainly not have kept it.
