I should very much like to have a little conversation with you, and will arrange to see you at any hour that will best suit you, in the evening if you like, any time after the morning working hours, which last till two o'clock. I know your time is very precious to you just now, but I think we shall both benefit by a little talk together after you have read the second proof.—Yours very truly,
M.E. Lewes.
F. Leighton, Esq.
16 Blandford Square, N.W.,
Wednesday.
Dear Mr. Leighton,—I feel for you as well as myself in this inevitable difficulty—nay, impossibility of producing perfect correspondence between my intention and the illustrations.
I think your sketch is charming, considered in itself, and I feel now with regret that if we had seen each other and talked a little together after you had read the proof, the only important discrepancy might have been prevented. It is too late for alterations now. If it had not been, I should have wished Bardo's head to be raised with the chin thrust forward a little—the usual attitude of the blind head, I think—and turned a little towards Romola, "as if he were looking at her."
Romola's attitude is perfect, and the composition is altogether such as gives me a very cheering prospect for the future, when we have more time for preparation. Her face and hair, though deliciously beautiful, are not just the thing—how could they be? Do not make yourself uneasy if alteration is impossible, but I meant the hair to fall forward from behind the ears over the neck, and the dress to be without ornament.
I shall inevitably be detestable to you, but believe that I am
(Unfinished)
16 Blandford Square, N.W.,
Thursday.