And now that you understand my wishes to try to do something new—at least understand them well enough to write me so very pleasant a letter,—I am sure you won’t think me too selfish for being so rare a visitor. I am like a setting hen,—afraid to leave my eggs till the hatching is done and the shells are broken. With all best wishes and thanks,
Very truly yours,
Lafcadio Hearn.
TO MITCHELL McDONALD
Tōkyō, November, 1898.
Dear McDonald,—I have your precious letter. It came all right. I am very glad that I was mistaken about the registry-business being neglected—but I thought it my duty to make the remark. As one of my students says: “A friend is a man to whom you can tell all your suspicions.”
Now I am going to tell you something much more than “suspicions.” I think it time;—and I want you to listen, and to think over it.
You do not understand my situation.
One reason that you do not understand is because you are a bachelor. Another reason is because you are a naval officer and a bachelor,—consequently to a considerable degree independent of social conventions of the smaller and meaner kind.