I am always your own loving and devoted boy.
Bosie.
This letter now published for the first time is the most characteristic I received from Oscar Wilde in the years after his imprisonment. It dates I think from the winter of 1897, say some eight months after his release. F.H.
HOTEL DE NICE
Rue des Beaux Arts
PARIS
My dear Frank:
I cannot express to you how deeply touched I am by your letter—it is une vraie poignée de main. I simply long to see you and to come again in contact with your strong sane wonderful personality.
I cannot understand about the poem (The Ballad of Reading Gaol) my publisher tells me that, as I had begged him to do, he sent the two first copies to the "Saturday" and the "Chronicle"—and he also tells me that Arthur Symons told him he had written especially to you to ask you to allow him to do a signed article.
I suppose publishers are untrustworthy. They certainly always look it. I hope some notice will appear, as your paper, or rather yourself, is a great force in London and when you speak men listen.