1r:1
London, 3 March 1874

Dear Caroline and Willem,
My hearty congratulations.1
I imagine you will have been disappointed not to have heard from me sooner, but that’s like me, and you surely know that I mean well. Now you must render good for evil,2 however, and write to me directly about how things are going.
Now I have a piece of news for you; our Anna will perhaps be coming here.3 You can imagine how wonderful that would be for me, but it’s almost too good to be true. Well, we’ll just have to wait and see. If she comes, it will probably be in May,  1v:2 and perhaps it could be arranged for me to come and fetch her.
I’d like so much to get to know her better than I do, for in the last few years we’ve actually seen very little of each other, and we only half know each other.
I wish you both the best, many regards to everyone in the Poten,4 and if someone or other asks after me. Have you kept up your acquaintance with the Tersteeg family?5

Yours truly,
Vincent

020

Br. 1990: 020 | CL: 14a
From: Vincent van Gogh
To: Willem van Stockum and Caroline van Stockum-Haanebeek
Date: London, Tuesday, 3 March 1874
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1. On 17 February a daughter, Leonarda Catharina Adriana, had been born to Caroline and Willem van Stockum-Haanebeek.
3. Van Gogh’s sister Anna was planning, after studying French, to go to England to work (FR b2689).
4. Lange Poten 10 in The Hague, Caroline’s parental home.
5. Van Gogh had previously encouraged Caroline and Willem van Stockum-Haanebeek to seek contact with the Tersteeg family. See letter 12.