XIV. TO GUSTAVE FLAUBERT, at Croissset
Paris, 31 August, 1866
First of all, embrace your good mother and your charming niece for
me. I am really touched by the kind welcome I received in your
clerical setting, where a stray animal of my species is an anomaly
that one might find constraining. Instead of that, they received me
as if I were one of the family and I saw that all that great
politeness came from the heart. Remember me to all the very kind
friends. I was truly exceedingly happy with you. And then, you, you
are a dear kind boy, big man that you are, and I love you with all
my heart. My head is full of Rouen, of monuments and queer houses.
All of that seen with you strikes me doubly. But your house, your
garden, your CITADEL, it is like a dream and it seems to me that I
am still there.