[M.B. notes, “My impatience with the torment I was suffering did not allow me to wait long for his reply, so I sent him the following letter, dated October 11, 1818.” Previous letter was sent 10/3/1818.]

To Mr. Prieur [father of the Prieur Brothers]

Dear sir, 

I do not know why you are still silent regarding the two letters I addressed to you, concerning your sons. I know that you forwarded my first to Etienne, and I have no doubt that you received my second, sent October 3rd of this year. What could be the cause of your silence? Surely, you cannot approve of the conduct of your young men toward me. 

These gentlemen, as well as Mr. Papon Lomini, showed me great ingratitude. They must not be unaware of the interest I took in them, and especially toward Etienne, when they were in the Mazarine Hotel. I have rendered the latter services which he should surely remember, and it is he that I have the most to complain of. Why do they enter my room invisibly, directing the power of a planet upon me, bringing the rain, the hail, and the snow? They make a terrible noise, move everything in my room, then come and sit next to me in my bed, bumping me, pushing me, hitting my head, and mistreating my squirrel, driving him to irritation with me and forcing me to mistreat him myself, making me pass for a wicked man, a madman as they had the insolence to say, and as I have already described to you in my last letter. 

Let me say to you now: I am neither mad nor wicked. They would doubtless like to have me become so, but the trust I have in God, and the prayers I address to him, will protect me from all these misfortunes, and one day, my enemies will be defeated. 

Do you remember the illness that Baptiste, one of your sons, suffered in 1817, which made him come to you, and how I urged him to do return home? At the time, Etienne came to see me every day. One evening, when he was crying over his situation, I urged him to heed your advice, but he told me he would rather drown himself than obey your orders. Finally, finding himself with no other option, he yielded to my request, and wrote you to express his repentance. Can you see how ungrateful he is? Right this very moment, he is at my side to torment me. 

Please, I ask you, use all the authority you have as a father to force him to leave me alone, and I beg you to reply to my letters. 

With respect,

M.B.

[This letter occurs in v1ch55]