Leitmeritz, Austria
14 February 1896
Professor Ferdinand Blumentritt
My very dear friend Pepe,
I have to communicate to you the sad news of the demise of our mutual friend R. Rost. This venerable old man left on an express train of London to give a lecture at a college in Canterbury and in going down the train he collapsed, a victim of apoplexy of which he died instantly. Orientalist science lost in him an industrious and resourceful servant and collaborator and his friends a man who had a heart of gold. (Goldherz, it is called in our language). He had a special sympathy for you and always called you “a pearl of a man.”
Let us, you and I, mourn him and let us dedicate an indelible remembrance to this generous man of learning.
A thousand regards to your good family from mine.
Your faithful friend and Bruderherz embraces you,
Fernando
05-889 [100 Letters]