P. S. In his letter Mr. Sharp says (writing to me in his delightful shaky Gaelic) that ‘both Grant and Nellie Allen are clach-chreadhain.’ It took me some time to understand the compliment. Clach-chreadh means ‘stone of clay’—i. e. a Brick!
That Mr. Grant Allen was half persuaded as to the identity of the author is shown in the following invitation:
The Croft, Hindhead,
July 12, 1894.
My dear Sharp,
Kindly excuse foolscap, I am out of note-paper, and on this remote hilltop can’t easily get any. As for the type-writing, I am reduced to that altogether, through writer’s cramp, which makes my right hand useless even for this machine, which I am compelled to work with my left hand only.—As to Pharais, I will confess I read it with some doubt as to whether it was not your own production; and after I had written my letter to Miss Macleod, I took it to my wife and said, “Now, if this is William Sharp, what a laugh and a crow he will have over me!” Le Gallienne, who is stopping with us, was sure it was yours; but on second thoughts, I felt certain, in spite of great likeness of style, there was a feminine touch in it, and sent on my letter. All the same, however, I was not quite satisfied you were not taking us in, especially as your book with Blanche Willis Howard had shown one how womanly a tone you could adopt when it suited you; and I shan’t feel absolutely at rest on the subject till I have seen the “beautiful lassie” in person. If she turns out to be W. S. in disguise, I shall owe you a bad one for it; for I felt my letter had just that nameless tinge of emotion one uses towards a woman, and a beginner, but which would be sadly out of place with an old hand like yourself, who has already won his spurs in the field of letters.
We shall be glad to make your cousin’s acquaintance (supposing her to exist) in October. It will afford us the opportunity we have long desired of asking you and Mrs. Sharp to come and see us in our moorland cottage, all up among the heather. Indeed, we have had it in our minds all summer to invite you—you are of those whom one would wish to know more intimately. I have long felt that the Children of To-morrow ought to segregate somehow from the children of to-day, and live more in a world of their own society.
With united kindest regards, and solemn threats of vengeance if you are still perpetrating an elaborate hoax against me,
I am ever
Yours very sincerely,