HER LETTER

His Answer & Her Last Letter

By BRET HARTE

Pictured by ARTHUR I KELLER

Boston & New York.
Houghton, Mifflin & Company
The Riverside Press, Cambridge.
1905

COPYRIGHT 1870 BY FIELDS, OSGOOD & CO.
COPYRIGHT 1871 BY JAMES R. OSGOOD & CO.
COPYRIGHT 1898 AND 1899 BY BRET HARTE.
COPYRIGHT 1905 BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED





PUBLISHERS' NOTE The first two of the poems here printed have long been popular favorites, but the third was not written till near the end of Mr. Harte's life. It rounds out the romance with such completeness and charm that it is peculiarly fitting that the poems should be grouped, and issued in a form worthy of their own excellence. The coöperation of Mr. Keller was secured for making the illustrations, not only on account of his recognized ability as an artist, but also because of his admiration for Mr. Harte's writings and his previous success in illustrating several of the stories. Boston, 4 Park St., October, 1905.

PAGE
I'm sitting alone by the fire
Dressed just as I came from the dance. (In color) [Frontispiece]
Title. (In color)
Publishers' Note—Headpiece[5]
List of Designs—Headpiece[7]

Her Letter—Half-title
[11]
Is wasting an hour upon you[13]
That waits—on the stairs—for me yet[15]
With whom do I waltz, flirt, or talk?[17]
To look supernaturally grand[19]
And the hum of the smallest of talk[21]
With the man that shot Sandy McGee. (In color)[23]
The man that shot Sandy McGee[25]
Of that ride,—that to me was the rarest[27]
And swam the North Fork, and all that[29]
Mamma says my taste still is low[31]
That my heart's somewhere there in the ditches[33]

His Answer—Half-title[35]
I should write what he runs off his tongue. (In color)[37]
Being asked by an intimate party[39]
That with you, Miss, he "challenges Fate"[41]
Though the claim not, at date, paying wages[43]
And the rose that you gave him. (In color)[45]
Is frequent and painful and free[47]
Imparts but small ease to the style[49]
In this green laurel spray that he treasures[51]
But he lies there quite peaceful and pensive[53]
For I have a small favor to ask you[55]
Here's my pile; which it's six hundred dollars[57]

Her Last Letter—Half-title
[59]
That you last wrote the 4th of December[61]
And you're not to be found in the ditches. (In color)[63]
From this spot, that you said was the fairest[65]
To London, when Pa wired, "Stop"[67]
And as to the stories you've heard[69]

Whose father sold clothes on the Bar[71]
With a look, Joe, that made her eyes drop. (In color)[73]
To find myself here, all alone[75]
Ah! gone is the old necromancy[77]
And you called the place Eden, you know. (In color)[79]
And the copse where you once tied my shoe-knot[81]
There's the rustle of silk on the sidewalk[83]
But there's still the "lap, lap" of the river. (In color)[85]
There's a lot that remains which one fancies[87]
He thinks he may find you[89]
And good-night to the cañon that answers[91]
I've just got your note. You deceiver![93]
Now I know why they had me transferred here. (In color)[95]
How dared you get rich—you great stupid![97]
The man who shot Sandy McGee
You made mayor![99]
Tailpiece[100]

All the headpieces and other decorations are from Mr. Keller's designs.