n the art of
being graceful and the science of etiquette of their social world. Today
the Hindu woman's mind is cultivated to a remarkable degree. Your son's
wife was a highly educated girl. Her father and mother were of the
Brahmin faith, but Father Leclerc had the joy of converting them to our
own religion. Unfortunately, when a Hindu is converted to our religion
he loses his caste, his rank, his standing in social life. This was the
case with the family whose daughter married your son. By becoming
Christians, they became to a certain extent outcasts.

"So you will quite understand that being cast off by the all-powerful
Hindu world, this charming girl, who was now a Christian, should turn
and take her place in European society. Her father went into partnership
with a well-known French exporter, and the firm was known as Doressany
(Hindu) & Bercher (French).

"It was in the home of Madame Bercher that your son met Marie Doressany
and fell in love with her. Everybody spoke in the highest praise of this
young lady. I did not know her, for I came to Dacca after she left. Why
there should have been any obstacle to this union I cannot say. That is
a matter I must not discuss. Although there were, however, objections,
the marriage took place and in our own Chapel. The Reverend Father
Leclerc bestowed the nuptial blessing upon the marriage of your son and
Marie Doressany. This marriage was recorded in our registers, and a copy
of it can be sent to you if you wish.

"For four years your son Edmond lived at the home of his wife's parents.
There a little girl was born to the young couple. Everyone who remembers
them speaks of them, as a model couple, and like all young people, they
took part in the social pleasures of their world.

"For some time the firm of Doressany & Bercher prospered, then hard
times came, and after several bad seasons the firm was ruined. M. and
Mme. Doressany died at some months' interval, and Monsieur Bercher with
his family returned to France. Your son then traveled to Dalhousie as
collector of plants and antiquities for various English houses. He took
with him his young wife and his little girl, who was about three years
old.

"He did not return to Dacca, but I learn from one of his friends to whom
he has written several times, and from Father Leclerc, who wrote
regularly to Mme. Paindavoine, that they had a villa at Dehra. They
selected this spot to live in as it was the center of his voyages; he