admirers to an indefinite number. You will think I am joking,
perhaps, when I tell you that I am unable to be exact--I who was
formerly l'exactitude meme. Two of these gentlemen are, to a
certain extent, old friends, having been passengers on the steamer
which carried us so far from you. One of them, still young, is
typical of the American character, but a respectable person, and a
lawyer in considerable practice. Every one in this country follows
a profession; but it must be admitted that the professions are more
highly remunerated than chez vous. Mr. Cockerel, even while I write
you, is in complete possession of my daughter. He called for her an
hour ago in a "boghey,"--a strange, unsafe, rickety vehicle, mounted
on enormous wheels, which holds two persons very near together; and
I watched her from the window take her place at his side. Then he
whirled her away, behind two little horses with terribly thin legs;
the whole equipage--and most of all her being in it--was in the most
questionable taste. But she will return, and she will return very
much as she went. It is the same when she goes down to Mr. Louis
Leverett, who has no vehicle, and who merely comes and sits with her
in the front salon. He has lived a great deal in Europe, and is
very fond of the arts, and though I am not sure I agree with him in
his views of the relation of art to life and life to art, and in his
interpretation of some of the great works that Aurora and I have
studied together, he seems to me a sufficiently serious and
intelligent young man. I do not regard him as intrinsically
dangerous; but on the other hand, he offers absolutely no
guarantees. I have no means whatever of ascertaining his pecuniary
situation. There is a vagueness on these points which is extremely
embarrassing, and it never occurs to young men to offer you a
reference. In Geneva I should not be at a loss; I should come to
you, chere Madame, with my little inquiry, and what you should not