From D. T. Ansted   23 April 1863

Athenæum Club

23 April 1863

My dear Darwin

I have only this day (on arriving in town) received your most kind note and enclosure of the Bond.1 All I can say in reply is that whatever I can at any time obtain for the 250£ worth of shares shall be immediately paid over to you and that I will take care that if this should happen after my death you shall not be a loser.2 I wish most sincerely that I could do more

I feel that you have acted throughout in the kindest & most friendly manner and as I should myself have desired to act under similar circumstances   May you be rewarded—

I am sincerely sorry to hear that you are not well. I trust it is not serious or likely to be tedious.

Always yours most truly | D. T. Ansted.

1
The letter to Ansted has not been found. Beginning in 1852, CD invested in and made bonded loans to a company owned by Ansted and Frederick Ransome that had since failed. See CD memorandum, 14 February 1863, letter to D. T. Ansted, 15 April 1863, and letter from D. T. Ansted, 17 April 1863.
2
In CD’s Investment book (Down House MS), the last entry concerning Ansted and the Patent Siliceous Stone Company was dated May 1863: ‘I have cancelled Ansted [after ‘R’ del] Bond on understanding that if he can ever sell the shares, he will repay me’.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-4123,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-4123