Rudgwick, Sussex, 10: 92.
My dear Sir,
As it is almost certain that for unforeseen private reasons serial publication of The Pagan Review will be held over till sometime in 1893, I regret to have to return your MS. to you. I have read The Noble Courtesan with much interest. It has a quality of suggestiveness that is rare, and I hope that it will be included in the forthcoming volume to which you allude.... It seems to me that the story would be improved by less—or more hidden—emphasis on the mysterious aspect of the woman’s nature. She is too much the “principle of Evil,” the “modern Lilith.” If you do not use it, I might be able—with some alterations of a minor kind—to use it in the P/R when next Spring it reappears—if such is its dubious fate.
Yours very truly,
W. H. Brooks.
P. S. It is possible that you may surmise—or that a common friend may tell you—who the editor of the P/R is: if so, may I ask you to be reticent on the matter.
Phenice Croft, Rudgwick,
22: 10: 92.
Dear Mr. Gilchrist,
Although I do not wish the matter to go further I do not mind so sympathetic and kindly a critic knowing that “W. S.” and “W. H. Brooks” are synonymous.