To Citizen Sophie Boisson, Cahors
Tilh, 25th October 1800

I am very very sorry, my dear Sophie, to have taken so long to reply to your lovely letters. I have no excuse. I confess my guilt freely and denounce myself for being such a dreadful lazybones. Would you dare scold me after such a heartfelt confession? I think not. I fancy hearing you say, “I am not angry with my dear Mimi any more, I forgive her." I seal this peace with a kiss and charge Fanny to bestow it in my name.

News in Tilh is rather sparse. We discover only by chance what is happening on the ground—who is waging war, who is making peace, how many dead, how many survived—and that from very late reports. It is a strange place to be, don’t you agree my dear Sophie? Still, one has to live here and dispose oneself in such a way as to make one’s lot bearable. I find support in religion and the good principles I received from our dear little Tata. Am I not indebted to her?

Then reading comes to the rescue, a great preventive against boredom, also drawing, music, and work gets us to the end of the day scarcely without us realising it—in summer. But how hard it is to go nearly the whole of winter without seeing a soul.

Let us not speak of future gloom! I want to tell you how we all are. Our little Tata is afflicted with a bad cold which causes her much discomfort. Mama is congested, I also. Only Papa is impervious to the chills that have affected us. He thanks you, as do Mama and dear Tata, for your kind consideration. Please give our compliments to all your family, especially Fanny.

We are constantly being told that peace has come. I dare not indulge in this comforting notion and even less do I believe we have signed a truce with the English, as rumour would have it. We know nothing about what is happening in Saint-Domingue. Friends say the colony is independent, under the protection of the English, others say the opposite. One does not know whom to believe. It is more than a year since we received letters from there. We wait for peace with much impatience and this impatience, believe me, makes the time creep by.

You are really too good, my dear Sophie, to wish for my portrait as you do. The eagerness with which you ask for it is flattering and will help overcome my distaste at working on my own beastly face.

I warn you, my dear friend, I do not paint in miniature. I have only done one portrait of that kind, of myself, and made rather a poor show of it. If I do not make a better job of the one for you, I will do a full portrait and send it to you next spring—or sooner if we leave Tilh early, you have my word. For your part, I want you to promise that, if one of your brothers or friends paints, you will get them to do your portrait for me.

If it is a miniature, I will wear it behind the one of Mama, if it is full-sized it will grace my cabinet—what a delight for me! I would be only too happy to receive such a pledge of your friendship. Think about it and tell me if it is feasible.

Farewell, my dear friend, I am all yours! Mimi

<< Previous Letter Next Letter >>