the ms of this history, addressed to me in the handwriting of my dear brother henry curtis, whom we had given up for dead, and bearing the aden postmark, reached me in safety on december 20, 18—, or a little more than two years after it left his hands in the far centre of africa, and i hasten to give the astonishing story it contains to the world. speaking for myself, i have read it with very mixed feelings; for though it is a great relief to know that he and good are alive and strangely prosperous, i cannot but feel that for me and for all their friends they might as well be dead, since we can never hope to see them more.

they have cut themselves off from old england and from their homes and their relations for ever, and perhaps, under the circumstances, they were right and wise to do so.

how the ms came to be posted i have been quite unable to discover; but i presume, from the fact of its being posted at all, that the little frenchman, alphonse, accomplished his hazardous journey in safety. i have, however, advertised for him and caused various inquiries to be made in marseilles and elsewhere with a view of discovering his whereabouts, but so far without the slightest success. possibly he is dead, and the packet was posted by another hand; or possibly he is now happily wedded to his annette, but still fears the vengeance of the law, and prefers to remain incognito. i cannot say, i have not yet abandoned my hopes of finding him, but i am bound to say that they grow fainter day by day, and one great obstacle to my search is that nowhere in the whole history does mr quatermain mention his surname. he is always spoken of as ‘alphonse’, and there are so many alphonses. the letters which my brother henry says he is sending with the packet of manuscript have never arrived, so i presume that they are lost or destroyed.

george curtis