I procured a letter from our Minister, and am now waiting the decision of the Government.
"Everything looks promising thus far, as much so as I could expect, but it involves the possibility, not to say the probability, of my remaining in Paris during the winter.
"If I should be delayed till December it would be prudent to remain until April.

If it be possible, without detriment to my affairs, to make such arrangements that I may return this autumn, I shall certainly do it; but, if I should not, you must console yourselves that it is in consequence of meeting with success that I am detained, and that I shall be more likely to return with advantage to you all on account of the delay.
"I ought to say that the directors of the Saint-Germain Railroad have seen my Telegraph, and that there is some talk (as yet vague) of establishing a line of my Telegraph upon that road.

I mention these, my dear child, to show you that I cannot at this moment leave Paris without detriment to my principal object." "_Paris, October 10, 1838._ You are at an age when a parent's care, and particularly a mother's care, is most needed.

You cannot know the depth of the wound that was inflicted when I was deprived of your dear mother, nor in how many ways that wound was kept open.

Yet I know it is all well; I look to God to take care of you; it is his will that you should be almost truly an orphan, for, with all my efforts to have a home for you and to be near you, I have met hitherto only with disappointment.