Dear M^r Darwin,

Your new book which I saw at my bookseller’s the other day, puts me in mind of my having been with you, (playing now & then a game at billiards), while you were publishing your “Origin of Species”—¹ And I will now tell you that in the course of last summer I went down as far as Bromley, by rail, thinking to call on you, but at the station I learned to my dismay that you lived seven miles distant, & there was no conveyance at hand!— So I returned the way I came!—

I still hope to see you again some day, & I hope M^rs Darwin & all are well.²

Do you remember corresponding with me in Brazil? & I sent you some postage stamps for your “boys”!³ They must be all “men” now! But I still have a stamp or two to spare!

I have just returned from Andalusia & Portugal: & it was at Cintra that I heard of your coming book, in conversation with a great botanist there. I think his name was Maw—⁴ He said he corresponded with you but did not know you—

Hoping when the weather is milder to try my luck again, & with kind regards to M^rs Darwin, | Believe me faithfully yours | J. J. Aubertin.

P.S. Do you ever hear of Miss Butler now?—⁵