I gradually withdrew from the few acquaintances I had formed in New Orleans; partly because I was satisfied with the company of Eulalia and our children, and partly because I could not take her with me into society.

She had no acquaintances here, and we acquired the habit of living in a little world by ourselves,--a world which, as you have seen, was transformed into a sort of fairy-land by her love of beautiful things.

After I lost her, it was my intention to send the children immediately to France to be educated.

But procrastination is my besetting sin; and the idea of parting with them was so painful, that I have deferred and deferred it.

The suffering I experience on their account is a just punishment for the wrong I did their mother.