To Mary-Anne Herbert   [5 May 1842]

My dear M^rs. Herbert

I am very much obliged to you for so quickly sending me M^r. Mears answer— it has destroyed some pleasant castles in airs—but house-hunters are doomed to suffer the greatest misfortunes & ought to be the most patient of men.— It is very obliging of M^r Mears’ being willing to bear my wishes regarding a house in mind.— Should Herbert chance to have any further communication, it would be worth while to inform him, that I consider five miles from a Railway Station as the length of my tether.

With many thanks believe me dear M^rs. Herbert | Yours very truly | C. Darwin

My wife left me on Tuesday with children for Staffordshire¹ so that in the language of Boz² I am a widow & an orphan.