25 April 1785

The Haven

Dearest God-father,

The post rider from Bordeaux has brought me tidings from both you and Lucien, for which I am most delighted and grateful. I confess I have put Luciens packet aside so I may conspire with you to make certain arrangements for the apartments you and he will share in Rocca Sorrentina when Lucien is able to travel to that lovely island as his responsibilities to the Marquis permit and you are able to slip onto the island unobserved by those you of necessity elude.

If all goes well, a ship of our agent in Marseilles will dock in Sorrentina within a fortnight. I trust you will both approve and enjoy the paintings I have chosen from the collection here, as well as household objects I know you to hold dear by virtue of the memories they hold for you.

The fine craftsmen and shopkeepers of Sorrentina will be a source for good seating and tables and a small number of fine musical instruments are being delivered from the mainland for your pleasure and for those small entertainments I hope you and Lucien will host when you are in residence.

Know that I will continue to send you things to fill up your pied a Terre with things I know you to hold dear. As for the books you have asked for, I will bring those myself, since they are too precious to send unaccompanied.

Finally, do not chide me, godfather, for extravagance in the selection of comestibles that will soon arrive to fill your larders. I cannot be with you to preside over your table, so I send youand our dear Lucienan abundance of pleasures of the table to savor to remind you both of your Lorsagne.

As for news from the estate, I write you as I sit on the small terrace next to the vineyard planted with the new vines you helped select after the disastrous harvest of two years ago. The roots have found good footing and are putting out the their first real vines which the workers are tying up under the watchful eye of the vigneron who marches up and down the rows like a bandy rooster taking the measure of his hens.

I confess that Fanny and I share some of the vignerons zeal: to see the Havens wines fetch the prices of our neighbors would give us the greatest of satisfactions! I tease her that the business of making wine cannot be nearly so difficult as that of transforming words into books, but she assures me both activities are more alchemy than rote and watching her labor on her manuscripts I am inclined to believe her. My foolish letters to you are labors of love; for Fanny Burney, her words are the expression of her ambition and her need to provide for herself. She is quite remarkable and these months of enjoying her company in this quiet place have given me great joy and comfort in yours and Luciens absence.

Until we next meet, Ce que femme veut, Dieu le veut.

Lorsagne