Autograph letter signed.

(Oblong) 8vo. 3 pp. on bifolium. A personal letter to the novelist Jean Middlemass (1833-1919), asking whether it were possible that Merivale's wife use his ticket, and about a supposed friend and trustee who absconded with their entire fortune: "I'm afraid I've a touch of influenza but must answer your letter to my wife as I promised her I would. She would like to go on the 19th very much; but I don't know if your second ticket would admit me, or another lady [.] Two months ago we learned [.] that my 'intimate friend' and solicitor, my mother's sole executor & my wife's trustee had failed for £400,000, after robbing everybody all around, and us of every farthing practically, that we had in the world. At 60 it's sufficiently awful, when one has been in very comfortable circumstances all one's life. We are leaving our beloved home as soon as may be [.]". - Merivale's solicitor named Cartmell Harrison had received a power of attorney, as Merivale and his wife had left in 1879 for a long journey to Australia for health reasons. - With embossed address, and traces of old mounting on the counter leaf, slight brownstaining to margins.